Finished reading Sebastian Mallaby’s bio of Alan Greenspsan, The Man Who Knew. The takeaway from the book is that Greenspan turned his back on his advocacy of laissez faire capitalism and became infected with “Potomac fever,” beginning in 1974 as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and then as chairman of the Federal Reserve, from 1987-2006. He knew that the Fed was creating financial bubbles but let them inflate instead of pulling the plug. In other words, Greenspan was the ultimate “political operator” as he navigated the political minefield in Washington, DC.
I will have more to write about Greenspan in my book on financial bubbles. I expect to post some excerpts in early May, at the earliest.
