Customer Reviews

The Quotations of Chairman Greenspan: Words from the Man Who Can Shake the World

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The core of this book is a series of quotations by Dr. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve (1987 - ) on the subjects of banks, capitalism, competition, debt and deficits, derivatives, education, employment, the Federal Reserve, forecasting, the gap between rich and poor, globalization, gold, housing, humor, inflation, the new economy, politics, reputation, risk, small business, Social Security and Medicare, the stock market, technology, and trade. The quotations are simplified into their key principles in brief commentaries by the author, Mr. Kahaner. The author has also provided a brief biographical sketch of Dr. Greenspan as well as comments by others about Dr. Greenspan. (For trivia buffs: Did you know he was once married to the painter, Joan Mitchell?)

Alan Greenspan is a classic conservative, monetarist economist. His views fit nicely into that category. He also has a lively wit, which is normally well hidden behind the facade of "non-speak" that he specializes in. The author has considerately included some of Dr. Greenspan's most famous bon mots. His convoluted sentences are more famous across the planet, and deliberately so.

For when Alan Greenspan really speaks, as he did about "irrational exuberance" in the stock market a few years ago, the ground moves beneath the financial markets. So he has to be careful.

Care is also required because of politics. The Federal Reserve is supposed to be an independent body that is not part of the political process. Yet Congress can change its powers very easily. So the best approach is to hide in the shadows, as much as any 800 pound gorilla can.

This strategy is complicated by the fact that the chairman has to make many speeches, and has many required reports to Congress each year. So, Chairman Greenspan has to utter a lot of words while saying very little.

Perhaps the truest statement in the book was the quote about him pointing out that people on both sides of any issue quote Alan Greenspan as supporting their position. And that's the brilliance of these obscure sayings.

The only times he can be open is when he is in front of a group that doesn't matter. For example, he can praise the small community banks to the skies, because they are so small. Bring up Citigroup, and he has to move off in other directions.

The book that still needs to be written about Alan Greenspan is his art of saying much while communicating little. Now, that would be a book!

My favorite slant on Alan Greenspan was missing from this book. The financial news channel, CNBC, has developed a way to anticipate which way interest rates will go. It depends on the size of Greenspan's brief case when he goes into a Fed meeting. When it is thick, rates change. When it is thin, nothing happens. With a between-sized case, the bias between tightening or not may shift. Interstingly, they are often correct with this approach. And this story shows perfectly how much scrutiny he is under.

The man has done a fabulous job of running the Federal Reserve. We should not forget that in our focus here on his words. This is an area where actions speak louder than words, as they often do.

Now that we are off the gold standard, controlling the money supply is more important than ever because there is no limit on the potential to create inflation. As a former economic forecaster, Greenspan knows that economic forecasts are more often wrong than right. So you have to be vigilant and aggressive in anticipating problems. You will get a good sense of that perspective from this book. It will bring all of those words into a coherent sense of Greenspan's philosophy for you.

After you have finished absorbing these very long sentences, I encourage you to think about when in your life it is good to be balanced in your communications in order to moderate the response. Clarity is not always a virtue. But do be clear whenever it is important to get the point across. Follow Hemingway then. When obscurity helps, follow Greenspan.

May you aggressively pursue the opportunities in front of you, but in a balanced way that exercises extreme caution about the risks involved. In considering your choices, you should pause to consider how forecasting may not always be correct. Naturally, you will want to give full weight to the concerns that your hear as well. (This is my attempt at a Greenspanism, for demonstration purposes.)

I read this book because this guy seems to be one of the most important men in the world. I wanted to understand him by seeing what he had to say, rather what someone else said about him. The book is organized very well, and the writer, Larry Kahaner, did an excellent job overall. If you're interested in business and the stock market, I'd say this is a must read. Also, Kahaner's other books are also very good. This is an author I follow.

Morbid curiosity drove me to open this book. I suppose I expected to find some sort of arch-conservative, Reaganite-Republican, Ayn-Randian, ultra-capitalist dogmatist. But the figure that actually emerges is that of a dedicated, technical-minded civil servant.

The book contains selections from different Greenspan speeches given over the years. Most selections are prefixed with some scene-setting remarks by the author, Kahaner. The book doesn't have much structure to it -- the chapters are in alphabetical order (e.g., "Banks", "Capitalism", "Derivatives", etc). So you can skip back and forth without losing anything.

While Greenspan's speaking style is usually clear, he does have a roundabout way of talking. For example: "I don't want to suggest we're about to do anything at this stage, but I would confirm we are obviously going to do a great deal of thinking about the whole process." Somewhere else, he jokes: "I've been able to string more words into fewer ideas than anybody I know, and I'm continuing to do that."

Nonetheless, the reader can pick up most of Greenspan's opinions without too much trouble. For example: (a)Debt - bad. (b)Inflation - very, very bad. (c)Capitalism - hurray! His view on income distribution: "No society succeeds unless virtually all of its participants believe that it's fair and gives people opportunities." That one sounded all right to me, but his views on labor strike me as downright creepy; for example: "It should always be remembered that in economies where dismissing a worker is expensive, hiring one will also be perceived to be expensive."

On a subject of current political concern, the privatization of Social Security (or "modernization" is what they're calling it now, I think), Greenspan argues against it for workers already contributing to the system: "Investing Social Security assets in equities is largely a zero sum game." But he also suggests that allowing younger workers the option to move to a semi-privatized plan might be practical.

Greenspan maintains a pretty aloof tone in most of his speeches. For example, while touring the economically devastated region of South Central Los Angeles, he dryly observes, "We regulators are swamped with all sorts of data... It's important to put a face on the numbers." On the matter of dealing with others: "...beyond the personal sense of satisfaction, having a reputation for fair dealing is a profoundly practical virtue. We call it 'good will' in business and add it to our balance sheets."

A section near the end of the book contains remarks others have made about Greenspan. One economist sums it up best: "When Greenspan dies his headstone could read: 'I am guardedly optimistic about the next world, but remain cognizant of the downside risk.'"

I know so little about the world of finance and economics and I'm so terrified by my ignorance, I Quicken© what my kids spend their allowances on. So, a book on Alan Greenspan's cryptic ruminations on economic theory wasn't exactly at the top of my "must read" list. But Larry Kahaner has performed a minor miracle here. Not only does the Sphinx-like Greenspan speak in this book -- he also makes a lot of sense. Kahaner does an excellent job of putting Greenspan's words of wisdom into an understandable context with clear, supple, and lively explanations. Now I know why Greenspan has been so influential -he works from a core of bedrock beliefs and strategies that guide his decisions no matter what the economy is doing. This book is a great example of how to make the obtuse and obscure understandable for the common reader. It's also a terrific introduction to basic economic principles because Kahaner does such a good job of showing how Greenspan's macro theories can be easily translated into the micro of your own financial life. A surprisingly good read.

If you're involved in the business world in any way, this book is a must. The Quotations of Chairman Greenspan gives readers important insights into one of the most powerful people in the world. If you know how Greenspan thinks, and what the Federal Reserve might do, you have an advantage in business. This is an excellent, well written, book!

At a time when so many on Wall Street hang on his every word, this compendium of Alan Greenspan quotations is just what is needed. Reading a collection of quotes -- along with the author's excellent analysis -- gives you a better understanding of Greenspan's theories. The author does an excellent job of organizing the Chairman's thoughts into concise chapters with brief commentary. I found the book an easy read for a topic that can be hard to comprehend.

It amazes me how many positive reviews this pseudo - economist's books usually get. Must probably be by supporters of mr. Greenspan or probably even mr. Greenspan himself. Well the days of Alan Greenspan came to a finish because he costed too much money. His pseudo - economical theories and promotion of pseudo - economics cost him his reputation and now it's in tatters and he can't rebuild it. It's like a man who sells useless guns who builds an empire on it. To keep the empire running he has to have a special page on amazon.com or someplace else where he can advertise for his failed guns. He then makes it look like as if the guns are good , but anybody who has attempted to fire from those guns , knows the truth. When the truth vibrations began to appear and everybody started to feel them Greenspan was one of those these particular vibrations hit the hardest. I tend to give one star reviews to books like those that Alan Greenspan or Barack H. Obama have published , because I enjoy it , because I like it , because I am proud of it , because it's fun , and because I've read something about these gentlemen. But it doesn't give me any right to go out and say certain things about them in certain ways. No , no , no , no , no. To disagree with their policies , both internally and externally gives me a right to criticize their works , and to do so from the perspective that the future holds a key to a door that's about to open and there's a party inside and they aren't invited. They treated the party launchers with the kind of behavior that made it impossible for them to want to invite them. In Iceland we've got tons of tales of homeless bums who got to be homeless because they attacked any attempt to help them. Greenspan isn't successful either. When you explore his character and profile as a supposedly successful bussiness person and as someone who was supposed to be able to run your 'Fed'successfully , you begin to realize that he wasn't really working for you. And that's when you're supposed to go mad and want to do something. But hell , people have said 'don't riot', but react calmly and rationally , but above all , calmly. I think that Alan Greenspan is on the way to jail. As far as his victims are concerned , he has a right to remain silent. He has a right to appeal before a court of law , and to an attorney. Anything he says may be used against him by those working on exposing him. I'm in no need to hate the man (I'd very probably have to know him personally to be able to do that). But such is life. I feel that his economics is pseudo - economics , because upon closer inspection it turns out it doesn't work. That's why I guess his reputation and the financial empire he was supposed to be part of , collapsed.
If I was in charge of an aquarium and I only took care of the sharks and let all the other fish die , I'd be charged with having attempted to murder the other fishes. If we assume that the aquarium is the Fed , and it's bussiness sharks are the only fish to be taken care of , it gets easier to understand my point when I talk about pseudo - economics. Because if I said that I had done something good for the fish that died and that I didn't do much for the sharks in the aquarium , I'd be looked upon as an insane person. I'd be told that there's nothing more I can do at the aquarium's site because I have turned out not to be trustworthy. When running an aquarium , try to feed ALL the fish , and know what food reasonates with each fish's vibration. You have to look at the whole aquarium as a whole , and not just isolated species of fish within it and that's how you can get the aquarium to be run effectively.