Typical how a hater wedge like Greenspan did the things to help keep White Power in Power.
Why does it have to be about race and class? Because the White Establishment IS racist and classist. That's what any objective review of U.S. gov't policy shows us.
Since DAY ONE in America virtually every single economic policy is really about race and classism. U.S. guvmint economic policy has always benefited and empowered the White Establishment over the working class and people of color in particular. My entire life White Establishmentarians have been pissin' on my leg and telling me It's raining - telling me White Establishmentarian policies benefit the working class, when in fact U.S. gov't economic policies have always benefited the wealthy, the top 1%.
Even today CNN, MSNBC, ABCNEWS, CBSNEWS trot out so-called economic experts who shamelessly gaslight the middle class and poor by blaming so-called inflation and high gasoline prices on Democrats passing pandemic relief bills and lazy workers not going back to their shitty pre-pandemic jobs for cheap pre-pandemic wages. I tell business owners who complain about the unavailability of cheap pre-pandemic labor: You have no constitutional, moral or statutory right to cheap labor period. If you cannot pay your workers a living wage then you have a FAILED BUSINESS and it's time for the business owner to get a job or sell their assets.
Ayn Rand, the character-steeling effects of endless competition, the prize belongs to the swiftest — no wonder Click and Clack called him “Alan Greasepan.”
Thanks Robert for publishing what your conversation with Greenspan could have been like.
Any discussion of the Fed Chair wouldn't be complete without reminding people how Sen. Bernie Sanders grilled Fed Chair Ben Bernanke like grilled cheese. Bernie went after Bernanke with a meat cleaver, painting Bernanke into a corner and forcing Bernanke to tell the truth under oath.
Bernie forced Bernanke to admit on video under oath the following:
1) Forced Bernanke to admit that Fed Chair Bernanke, like other Fed Chairs, create trillions of dollars out of thin air by literally sitting at Bernanke's keyboard and adding zeros to digits to create money out of thin air.
2) Forced Bernanke to admit the Federal Reserve has lent trillions of U.S. dollars to U.S. banks and worldwide WITHOUT REVEALING WHO THE FEDERAL RESERVE LENT U.S. DOLLARS TO!
3) Forced Bernanke to brazenly and openly admit to Bernie and the public that Bernanke WILL NOT REVEAL WHO THE FED LENT THAT MONEY TO!
4) Bernanke told Bernie that he would not reveal who the FED lent trillions to because it could possibly upset world markets. Bernie reminded Bernanke that he was under oath and must tell Congress who the FED lent money to. Bernie asked Bernanke, "Will you tell the American people to whom you lent $2.2 trillion of their dollars. Will you tell us who got that money and what the terms are of those agreements?" Bernanke refused to tell Bernie and Congress to whom the Fed lent $2.2 trillion of U.S. tax dollars. When pressed further by Bernie, Bernanke said the Fed lent it to hundreds and hundreds of banks. Bernie asked Bernanke which banks did you lend the money to? Bernanke flatly stated, "NO."
Odd how a man that is SUPPOSED to be so brilliant and yet be an acolyte of Ayn Rand, nee Rosenbaum. When I heard Greenspan speak, I had the sense that he was speaking cryptically so as to obfuscate. Once a congressman on a committee responded to A.G.'s words with, "I can't understand you." I thought: yeah, neither can I; and, I was an economics major! Brilliance without a heart does not belong in govt. Give me Dean Baker any day. What this teaches us is this: We need presidents who have some depth of understanding of the murky world of Economics so that they do not fall prey to advisors with limited agendas as, in my view, President Clinton did when he signed off on the repeal of Glass-Steagall. A.G. was a bit of a fraud, if not an educated fool. G-B-L at work.. (Govt By Lobby)
Professor Reich, from that imaginary discussion it sounds like you think that our government answers to the Fed rather than the American People:
Greenspan: “I could do worse. He’ll reappoint me. He’ll do whatever I want to him to.”
Is this a desirable state of affairs? The Fed was created to keep our immoral fractional reserve banking system solvent by creating money, a Faustian bargain entered by Congress, because Congress wanted the Fed to create money for their programs too, and the Fed happily obliges – and charges taxpayers interest for the privilege. Congress and the President answer to the banks, not to the people.
Why should the United States government beg the Fed chairman for anything? Why not abolish the Fed, let the banks fend for themselves like everybody else has to do, and then slash military spending to balance the budget so that we can enact the programs our people who are working so hard so desperately need, programs that every other developed nation has? This would not be socialism, it would be social justice.
Socialism and social justice are not the same and should never be conflated. Bernie Sanders and AOC are some of my very favorite people in Congress, but it annoys me to no end when they keep calling themselves “socialists”. They are fighting for social justice not for socialism.
The Nobel prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek defined socialism as government control over manufacturing and production. In this sense, the institution of the Fed is profoundly socialist, because they control the money supply. They set the interest rates that signal manufacturing and production across the country. So the United States is not really a capitalist country at all, it is deeply and profoundly socialist because the government and banks control the money supply through the strange and immoral symbiosis of central banking.
For the United States to become a true democracy and to become truly capitalist, the money has to be controlled by the people, not by the banks. Let the banks fend for themselves, and force Congress to face the American people when they bloat the military budget and then refuse to treat healthcare as a human right, while inflating away everybody’s savings behind their backs. Get rid of the Fed!
I can't attempt a thoughtful reply, for I'm still laughing 😂 over serious matters. Yet seventy-eight years of living provides a long-view. Our economic problems border on the mystical, not mysterious (to me), and have happened before. Then, we straighten up and fly right. It will happen again, and as a nation, we'll fall once more. So, what else is new? I love your almost-irreverent humor! Thank you for this gem. Most importantly, Happy Hanukkah, Robert, which begins tomorrow, yes? (Rhetorical, no need to respond.) 🕎
What I don't sense in this pseudo-conversation is any grasp in Greenspan of the evolving nature of capitalism. For example when the Fed and Obama bailed out the banks in 2008-2009 with massive amounts of liquidity the Obama administration rejected fiscal stimulus on the same level and the economy stagnated. In the current Covid crisis both the Trump and Biden administrations used extensive fiscal stimulus together with even more massive pumping of liquidity into the banking system. Now we are seeing the reaction with greedy monopolies and the Saudi medieval killers raising prices because they can(all those construction materials prices have gone back up in price in the last month enormously, but it's Fall and where is the demand?), and the bond buyers and bankers mourning the Fed's not raising interest rates to impose austerity. So something has happened here---more liquidity for the banks and Wall St than ever before and more fiscal stimulus than in the last crisis. American capitalism still has a problem. It appears to be unable to trim speculation from its investment process whereas the Chinese are working on this. The Chinese also appear to be able to complete capital projects with an efficiency that we don't have. Remember that they shut down the Covid epidemic very effectively using the State planning mechanism whereas we haven't even been able to convince our population to get vaccinated or wear the shoddy masks we never improved through regulation or filter air in enclosed spaces.
So whereas our form of capitalism is evolving it appears to be doing so at a snails pace and the Chinese appear to be pioneering the next level of evolution of the capitalist system.
Greenspan "deftly avoided talking about the deficit, jobs and inflation." How nice of him. He surely knew you had no interest in discussing those subjects with him. He didn't want to bore you. Either that, or he's a snake.
No doubt he's very, very smart. But he turned out to be not as smart as he thought. After the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting economic devastation, he admitted he had gone too far with his Ayn Rand free-market philosophy and opposition to government regulations. And the Clintons and other corporate Dems, not to mention Republicans, had gone too far right along with him, taking the country into the Great Recession.
Professor, if only this conversation with Greenspan had actually occurred just as you've presented it here, it might have done some good and hopefully pointed Greenspan toward a self-examination of his basic character and personality flaws that over the years caused so many people so much suffering. I never could stand the guy, his having to always be right, his total self-absorption and his arrogance, his fawning for deference, also the tragedy of his being in a position from which he could wreak untold damage on American life. We're so much better off without him. He was indeed, as you put it, a "robber-baron pimp", and probably much worse.
OMG! This is hilarious! Robber baron? Bolshevik dwarf? I’ll trust your take on this (I’m a biologist and nurse, not an economist) that we will do OK if Powell is retained.
I laughed my a.. off! You are so funny! Self effacing and so smart! Greenspan did finally come to his senses! This would have been an honest conversation!
Typical how a hater wedge like Greenspan did the things to help keep White Power in Power.
Why does it have to be about race and class? Because the White Establishment IS racist and classist. That's what any objective review of U.S. gov't policy shows us.
Since DAY ONE in America virtually every single economic policy is really about race and classism. U.S. guvmint economic policy has always benefited and empowered the White Establishment over the working class and people of color in particular. My entire life White Establishmentarians have been pissin' on my leg and telling me It's raining - telling me White Establishmentarian policies benefit the working class, when in fact U.S. gov't economic policies have always benefited the wealthy, the top 1%.
Even today CNN, MSNBC, ABCNEWS, CBSNEWS trot out so-called economic experts who shamelessly gaslight the middle class and poor by blaming so-called inflation and high gasoline prices on Democrats passing pandemic relief bills and lazy workers not going back to their shitty pre-pandemic jobs for cheap pre-pandemic wages. I tell business owners who complain about the unavailability of cheap pre-pandemic labor: You have no constitutional, moral or statutory right to cheap labor period. If you cannot pay your workers a living wage then you have a FAILED BUSINESS and it's time for the business owner to get a job or sell their assets.
Ayn Rand, the character-steeling effects of endless competition, the prize belongs to the swiftest — no wonder Click and Clack called him “Alan Greasepan.”
Thanks Robert for publishing what your conversation with Greenspan could have been like.
Any discussion of the Fed Chair wouldn't be complete without reminding people how Sen. Bernie Sanders grilled Fed Chair Ben Bernanke like grilled cheese. Bernie went after Bernanke with a meat cleaver, painting Bernanke into a corner and forcing Bernanke to tell the truth under oath.
Bernie forced Bernanke to admit on video under oath the following:
1) Forced Bernanke to admit that Fed Chair Bernanke, like other Fed Chairs, create trillions of dollars out of thin air by literally sitting at Bernanke's keyboard and adding zeros to digits to create money out of thin air.
2) Forced Bernanke to admit the Federal Reserve has lent trillions of U.S. dollars to U.S. banks and worldwide WITHOUT REVEALING WHO THE FEDERAL RESERVE LENT U.S. DOLLARS TO!
3) Forced Bernanke to brazenly and openly admit to Bernie and the public that Bernanke WILL NOT REVEAL WHO THE FED LENT THAT MONEY TO!
4) Bernanke told Bernie that he would not reveal who the FED lent trillions to because it could possibly upset world markets. Bernie reminded Bernanke that he was under oath and must tell Congress who the FED lent money to. Bernie asked Bernanke, "Will you tell the American people to whom you lent $2.2 trillion of their dollars. Will you tell us who got that money and what the terms are of those agreements?" Bernanke refused to tell Bernie and Congress to whom the Fed lent $2.2 trillion of U.S. tax dollars. When pressed further by Bernie, Bernanke said the Fed lent it to hundreds and hundreds of banks. Bernie asked Bernanke which banks did you lend the money to? Bernanke flatly stated, "NO."
You can bet it wasn't the middle class and poor.
Don't think so? Here's the video: https://youtu.be/dX2qvbznGKM
Odd how a man that is SUPPOSED to be so brilliant and yet be an acolyte of Ayn Rand, nee Rosenbaum. When I heard Greenspan speak, I had the sense that he was speaking cryptically so as to obfuscate. Once a congressman on a committee responded to A.G.'s words with, "I can't understand you." I thought: yeah, neither can I; and, I was an economics major! Brilliance without a heart does not belong in govt. Give me Dean Baker any day. What this teaches us is this: We need presidents who have some depth of understanding of the murky world of Economics so that they do not fall prey to advisors with limited agendas as, in my view, President Clinton did when he signed off on the repeal of Glass-Steagall. A.G. was a bit of a fraud, if not an educated fool. G-B-L at work.. (Govt By Lobby)
Politics is really harsh and ugly; you could be in comedy. xo
Professor Reich, from that imaginary discussion it sounds like you think that our government answers to the Fed rather than the American People:
Greenspan: “I could do worse. He’ll reappoint me. He’ll do whatever I want to him to.”
Is this a desirable state of affairs? The Fed was created to keep our immoral fractional reserve banking system solvent by creating money, a Faustian bargain entered by Congress, because Congress wanted the Fed to create money for their programs too, and the Fed happily obliges – and charges taxpayers interest for the privilege. Congress and the President answer to the banks, not to the people.
Why should the United States government beg the Fed chairman for anything? Why not abolish the Fed, let the banks fend for themselves like everybody else has to do, and then slash military spending to balance the budget so that we can enact the programs our people who are working so hard so desperately need, programs that every other developed nation has? This would not be socialism, it would be social justice.
Socialism and social justice are not the same and should never be conflated. Bernie Sanders and AOC are some of my very favorite people in Congress, but it annoys me to no end when they keep calling themselves “socialists”. They are fighting for social justice not for socialism.
The Nobel prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek defined socialism as government control over manufacturing and production. In this sense, the institution of the Fed is profoundly socialist, because they control the money supply. They set the interest rates that signal manufacturing and production across the country. So the United States is not really a capitalist country at all, it is deeply and profoundly socialist because the government and banks control the money supply through the strange and immoral symbiosis of central banking.
For the United States to become a true democracy and to become truly capitalist, the money has to be controlled by the people, not by the banks. Let the banks fend for themselves, and force Congress to face the American people when they bloat the military budget and then refuse to treat healthcare as a human right, while inflating away everybody’s savings behind their backs. Get rid of the Fed!
I can't attempt a thoughtful reply, for I'm still laughing 😂 over serious matters. Yet seventy-eight years of living provides a long-view. Our economic problems border on the mystical, not mysterious (to me), and have happened before. Then, we straighten up and fly right. It will happen again, and as a nation, we'll fall once more. So, what else is new? I love your almost-irreverent humor! Thank you for this gem. Most importantly, Happy Hanukkah, Robert, which begins tomorrow, yes? (Rhetorical, no need to respond.) 🕎
What I don't sense in this pseudo-conversation is any grasp in Greenspan of the evolving nature of capitalism. For example when the Fed and Obama bailed out the banks in 2008-2009 with massive amounts of liquidity the Obama administration rejected fiscal stimulus on the same level and the economy stagnated. In the current Covid crisis both the Trump and Biden administrations used extensive fiscal stimulus together with even more massive pumping of liquidity into the banking system. Now we are seeing the reaction with greedy monopolies and the Saudi medieval killers raising prices because they can(all those construction materials prices have gone back up in price in the last month enormously, but it's Fall and where is the demand?), and the bond buyers and bankers mourning the Fed's not raising interest rates to impose austerity. So something has happened here---more liquidity for the banks and Wall St than ever before and more fiscal stimulus than in the last crisis. American capitalism still has a problem. It appears to be unable to trim speculation from its investment process whereas the Chinese are working on this. The Chinese also appear to be able to complete capital projects with an efficiency that we don't have. Remember that they shut down the Covid epidemic very effectively using the State planning mechanism whereas we haven't even been able to convince our population to get vaccinated or wear the shoddy masks we never improved through regulation or filter air in enclosed spaces.
So whereas our form of capitalism is evolving it appears to be doing so at a snails pace and the Chinese appear to be pioneering the next level of evolution of the capitalist system.
Great "imagined" conversation with Alan Greenspan - made me subscribe today
Haha! It’s good to laugh! Happy to see your sense of humor.
Hmmm ok but what was for lunch... :)
Greenspan "deftly avoided talking about the deficit, jobs and inflation." How nice of him. He surely knew you had no interest in discussing those subjects with him. He didn't want to bore you. Either that, or he's a snake.
No doubt he's very, very smart. But he turned out to be not as smart as he thought. After the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting economic devastation, he admitted he had gone too far with his Ayn Rand free-market philosophy and opposition to government regulations. And the Clintons and other corporate Dems, not to mention Republicans, had gone too far right along with him, taking the country into the Great Recession.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27335454
Professor, if only this conversation with Greenspan had actually occurred just as you've presented it here, it might have done some good and hopefully pointed Greenspan toward a self-examination of his basic character and personality flaws that over the years caused so many people so much suffering. I never could stand the guy, his having to always be right, his total self-absorption and his arrogance, his fawning for deference, also the tragedy of his being in a position from which he could wreak untold damage on American life. We're so much better off without him. He was indeed, as you put it, a "robber-baron pimp", and probably much worse.
OMG! This is hilarious! Robber baron? Bolshevik dwarf? I’ll trust your take on this (I’m a biologist and nurse, not an economist) that we will do OK if Powell is retained.
I laughed my a.. off! You are so funny! Self effacing and so smart! Greenspan did finally come to his senses! This would have been an honest conversation!
Very entertaining informative and, most likely true!