Alan Greenspan’s 18-year stint as head of the Federal Reserve Bank
witnessed some of the most massive upward redistributions of wealth in our nation’s
history.
It’s now clear that his policies contributed greatly to the transformation of
Wall Street from an engine that financed American business to a business-destroying
machine—and that Greenspan abetted the hollowing out of the U.S. economy by giving Wall
Street and Washington everything they could possibly want.
To take the full measure of Greenspan’s culpability, we need to look beyond
the disgraced public persona and see him within the broader sweep of his life and times.
In Panderer to Power , author Frederick J. Sheehan delivers the first in-depth, critical
biography of the man who, for nearly two decades, served as the world’s most powerful
banker.
Beginning with Greenspan’s formative years as a Depression-era kid from New
York City, Sheehan traces his subject’s progress from his days touring America as a reed
man with the Henry Jerome Orchestra in the 1940s through his emergence as one of
America’s first celebrity economists to his ascent through the ranks of power in D.C.
What emerges is a searing portrait of a shameless media hound who ferociously
promoted his image as a straight-laced numbers cruncher, a Machiavelli whose political
skills far surpassed his skills as an economist.
Drawing upon a vast array of original sources, the author leaves little room
for doubt: either the “economic genius of our time” was oblivious to the hazards of
his irresponsible policy decisions or he knew full well what he was doing, but chose, as
he had throughout his career, to put self-interest above the public good.
Frederick J. Sheehan
is a former director of asset allocation services at
John Hancock Financial Services and the coauthor of the critically acclaimed Greenspan's
Bubbles. He has written for Marc Faber's Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, Whiskey &
Gunpowder, and the Prudent Bear Web sites. He serves as an advisor to investment firms and
endowments. He lives in the Boston area.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Part I - Prelude to Power, 1926-1987 1
1 Early Years:The Education of Alan Greenspan, 1926-1958 9
2 The Dark Side of Prosperity, 1958-1967 19
3 Advising Nixon: "I Could Have a Real Effect," 1967-1973 31
4 President Ford's Council of Economic Advisers, 1973-1976 47
5 The 1980 Presidential Election: Boosting Carter, Reagan, and Kennedy, 1976-1980 59
6 Parties, Publicity, Promotion - and Lobbying for the Federal Reserve Chairmanship,
1980-1987 71
7 Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, 1984-1985 85
8 "The New Mr. Dollar"; Chairman of the Federal Reserve, 1987 95
Introduction to Part 2 - The Pinnacle of Power, 1987-2006 103
9 The Stock Market Crash and the Recession That Greenspan Missed, 1987-1990 109
10 Restoring the Economy: Greenspan Underwrites the Carry Trade. 1990-1994 121
11 Cutting Rates and Running for Another Term as Chairman, 1995-1996 133
12 The Productivity Mirage That Greenspan Doubted, 1995-1997 145
13 "Irrational Exuberance" and Other Disclosures, 1995-1998 157
14 In a Bubble of His Own, 1998 169
15 Long-Term Capital Management: A Lesson Ignored, 1998 181
16 Greenspan Launches His Doctrine, November 1998-May 1999 191
17 "This is Insane!!" June-December 1999 203
18 Greenspan's Postbubble Solution: Tighten Money, January-May 2000 215
19 The Maestro's Open-Mouth Policy, June-December 2000 227
20 Stocks Collapse and America Asks: "What Happens When King Alan Goes?" 2001
237
21 The Fed's Prescription for Economic Depletion, 1994-2002 251
22 The Mortgage Machine, 1989-2007 265
23 Greenspan's Victory Lap: His Last Years at the Fed, 2002-2006 283
Introduction to Part 3 - The Consequencesof Power, 2006-2009 301
24 The Great Distortion, 2006 307
25 Fast Money on the Crack-Up, 2006 315
26 Cheap Talk: Greenspan and the Bernanke Fed, 2007 327
27 "I Plead Not Guilty!" 2007-2008 337
28 Greenspan's Hometown, 2008 349
29 Life after Greenspan, 2009- 361
Appendix The Federal Reserve System 367
Acknowledgements 369
Index 371
400 pages, Hardcover