Customer Reviews

The Federal Reserve System: A History

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I initially checked out this book from my local public library because I was reluctant to buy it for $30. After reading the book, I decided that it would be well worth the $30 price just to have it readily available for reference. I am a financial planner trying to put recent historical events into better perspective and have read a number of books and articles on the history of banking. Much of the literature seems to be either too radical or too conservative, and fraught with biased commentary intended to support ultra-liberal or ultra-conservative views ranging from conspiracy theories to institutionalized mediocrity. I found this book to present a very fair and balanced view well supported by reliable facts that speak for themselves. It goes into sufficient depth without becoming burdensome to read. It is also very well organized: by tracing the history of the Federal Reserve, it is so much easier to put current conditions into a very meaningful perspective. In fact, I have created an outline of the book which allows me to more readily identify significant events and trends whose importance becomes more apparent as events unfold before us today in ways that few would have thought possible just a few years ago. I found the early chapters covering the period between the origination of the Federal Reserve in 1913/14 and the stock market crash to be the most revealing -- particularly the metamorphosis of the Federal Reserve as a lender of last resort that could respond to fluctuations in market demand for money to a much less market-oriented institution that now attempts to "proactively influence the behavior of banks" (manipulate markets). This critical period in the history of the Federal Reserve caused me to question policies that I had previously taken for granted, as do most people including many who consider themselves to be very sophisticated financial professionals. It now seems almost absurd that we consider the US economy to be a free-market economy, when market forces now have so little to do with interest rates and the money supply, which are at the heart of so many financial decisions made by all the "free market" participants further down the food chain. Banking is so obviously one of those industries that Daniel Yergin, in his book "The Commanding Heights," would describe as being at the Commanding Heights of an economy in which free markets are allowed to prevail only to the point that true power by centralized decision-makers is not threatened. I thought this was a concept unique to the Soviet Union decades ago when capitalism and communism were still battling for acceptance as the superior economic structure, and that capitalism had long since proven itself to be more viable. But, here we are today witnessing similar "Commanding Heights" policies being implemented in supposedly free market economies. It is still hard to believe that developments over the past 50 years have been reversed so quickly, renewing debates that can only be understood if they are viewed within the historical context that a book like this provides -- along with "Commanding Heights" and Friedrich Hayek's book "The Road to Serfdom."

The Federal Reserve banking system was created in 1913 to stabilize banking practices: while it's often in the news today, few Americans actually know the background of its creation and its effects on American lives. Donald Wells is a professor of economics from the University of Memphis with extensive studies in baking: his guide, The Federal Reserve System: A History, provides not just a review of the Federal Reserve's establishment and effects, but a survey of the entire American banking system. Very timely and important reading.

I get tired of people who think they know what the Federal Reserve is and does, and they are misunderstanding the facts. With this book, there is no excuse. This book is short, easy-to-read, and covers most facts pertaining to the development of the Fed and its policies.

This book did a pretty good job in providing a relatively thorough background of the history of the Fed. Dr. Wells goes through the evolution of the Federal Reserve, starting from its origins with the Federal Reserve Act and ending with Greenspan's chairmanship. The best part of this book is how Wells highlights the various mistakes that the Fed has made and show how the Fed has learned from these mistakes.

One weakness of this book is that it is already somewhat outdated. In the last several months the Federal Reserve has made some drastic changes that are not in the book. The book is also expensive at more then 30 dollars for a relatively short (200 page) paperback.

This book is well written, especially for the layman trying to understand the actual Federal Reserve System. In today's current financial crises, it helps to understand the Federal Reserve System.

Greenspan was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board for many years and cultivated the money men to influence his thinking.
He's called "the most powerful man in the world" and yet there has always been a sense of mystery which surround his private life. Coming from Washington Heights in New York where he lived wiht his grandparents, to become a power proker of the "first Order," he excelled in how to manage money and control economic crises. He was pivotal in America's economic expansion. Now, that he is retiring, the United States of Europe are taking over as the superpower of the wealthy.

Author Justin Martin detaials Greenspan's training as an economist. Using the opinions and knowledge of his peers, Henry Kissinger, Milton Friedman and former U. S. Predsident Gerald Ford, who appointed him to the Federal Reserve. He served under five presidents on the Federal Reserve Board and Chairman. In the photo section, he is shown with former presidents Gore, Clinton, Reagan, Nixon, and Bush, Sr.

Before that heady position, he excelled in academics and music at George Washington High School; in the '43 yearbook, he was listed as taking part in orchestra, dance band, was class president, and labeled as "smart as a whip and talented." He was a musician at Julliard, and played clarinet and saxophone as he toured with Henry Jerome's jazz band and in a trio. Learning the strict precision of playing instruments aided him in making complicated decisions as Chief Justice of this august group.

He hobnobbed with the wealthy at the O'Conner parties, including Allen Blumenthal in the mid '50s. Nothing keep him from marrying two beautiful women. Like Prince Charles of England, he had two women in his first marriage, a young beauty and Ann Rand who played a big role in his life. She was his Camilla. An old man never learns, even a smart one -- he married again in 1997 to a 'dead ringer' of his first wife. This time he married up into society.

Just as another super hero of an earlier era, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the greatest Civil War General (according to Robert E. Lee), he was the target of cartoonists (not comics!). In one, he is one of the five "enduring national monuments" in Washington, D.C. In another, the favorite of Justin Martin's aunt (her contribution to the book), he's shown being "tempted" by dancing naked women whose large proportions had prominent n....s. holding banners for the dot com groups.

As a teenager with rolled up jeans, he is talller than his mom, Rose Goldsmith, who held the Bible when he was sworn in as Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers in 1974. He's shown in the Oval office under the portrait of George Washington (what's more appropriate?) with Bush, Sr. and cronies.

To end with a riddle: How many bankers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, Greenspan holds the bulb and the world revolves around him. That's the story of his life. He is certainly an exceptional individual, a marvelous government servant as opposed to the two giving me "what-for" right now