Alan Greenspan: The Oracle Behind the Curtain

There is an endless supply of rave reviews for Alan Greenspan and the Fed. This is due to Greenspan’s political manipulations, the reluctance of politicians to challenge the Federal Reserve, the press corps’ willingness to trade glowing reviews for access, and private economists with ambitions of becoming Fed Governors. With Greenspan’s announced retirement, the devastating effects of Fed actions are mounting. Even as institutional reforms are suggested, it is shown how they have been blocked by an ideology favored by financial wealth-holders at the expense of wage labor. This thought-provoking new title, by the highly acclaimed author of Wall Street Capitalism and A Brief History of Economics, provides a much-needed counterbalance to the mythical distortions of Alan Greenspan. Canterbery exposes Greenspan’s fundamentalist market ideology as overwhelming rationality in the making of economic policy. He depicts a Fed selfishly guarding its political independence, even as Greenspan has his way in virtually every major economic and social policy affecting the global economy since the Ford Administration. This book reveals the hidden nodes of power that give the Fed vast authority over the global economy. It also explains why it is so important not only to understand those powers, but also to appreciate why they are resistant to moderation.