Jack welch wrote in his autobiography something to the effect that "a leaders success is mostly determined by how the company fares after he leaves". Greenspan left, and a shitstorm ensued shortly thereafter. Its too Bad. Papa G used to be very sympathetic to the Austrian Economics and the Gold Standard. One wonders what could cause someone's economic policy to shift so radically? /sarcasm.
Greenspan was probably a genius, but geniuses can be wrong just like everyone else, though usually with greater consequences. I believe his biggest faults have deep roots in Ayn Rand's nonsense. There's nothing like real world experiences to prove pure capitalism works about as well as pure socialism. Here's just a taste of Alan's ideology: Monopolies = GOOD (the company is simply conduction business in its best interest) Anti trust laws = BAD (the market will work it out) Unemployment benefits and minimum wages = BAD (don't reduce them, put them at zero) Any kind of regulation whatsoever = BAD (companies will govern themselves and always do what's in their best interests. Destroying the environment in a micro or macro scale is not in their best interests because they would lose their customer base or burn through the resource from which profits are generated. And of course collapsing the financial system is not in their best interests, so never interfere with a banker's business)
Water under the bridge. We could go all the way back to Carter and the housing bill he and the Dems passed that got the ball rolling. Look forward and worry about those in charge now. Bernanke, Geitner, Pelosi, Reid and of course Obambie.
Unbelievably, Forbes magazine carried an article that Greenspan's Phd was a fraud. Forbes called him and he mumbled that he was traveling and couldn't get it. The most powerful economic man on earth was a fraud.
The Bankers had brought back America to UK in 1920 when the Fed was established; the bankers were treated as equals by the UK royalty.