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| Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve | 
 enlarge | Authors: William Fleckenstein, Fred Sheehan
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $11.92
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (39 reviews)
Sales Rank: 8893
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0071591583
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.11092
EAN: 9780071591584
ASIN: 0071591583
Publication Date: January 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The most rigorous expose of Greenspan's tenure you're going to find February 19, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Greenspan was clueless, arrogant and impervious to self reflection or self doubt. Unfortunately, not only was he complicit in radically mismanaging interest rates for almost 20 years, but he also left a written and verbal legacy behind just waiting for the likes of Fleckenstein and Sheehan to uncover. A wonderful book about a seriously flawed man.
Yes.The problem is America has become a speculator economy.No.Greenspan is not primarily responsible February 17, 2008
38 out of 52 found this review helpful
Fleckenstein(F) and his co-author establish beyond any doubt that the transformation of the American economy ,from one of production,entrepreneurship,enterprise,and investment into one of speculation,more speculation,and much more speculation ,has been taking place from the time that R Reagan became President in 1981,although one can clearly see that the Carter administration is the one who started the trend to speculation and away from enterprise in the first place in 1979.F shows,using the transcripts of the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC),the quasi-private ,quasi-public heart of the Federal Reserve System ,that Greenspan continually opted for a very easy ,expansionary monetary policy generally from July,1987,when Greenspan took over the helm of the FED from Paul Vocker, up until June,2004,when Greenspan received a call from the head of the Chinese central bank complaining about the very low interest returns that was being paid on U S government bonds,that resulted in a U turn in monetary policy.F shows that this policy continually promoted a turn toward allowing commercial banks to collaborate with the giant Wall Street investment brokerage firms in marketing highly speculative loans and other financial practices supporting leveraged buyouts and takeovers by private equity firms looking to manipulate a corporation's financial balance sheet to extract profit without production.Greenspan's very easy money policies constantly bailed out the Wall Street speculators every time their imprudent risk taking got them into trouble.This ,of course,would lead to further increases in speculative behavior on the part by the private commercial banks,now allied with the big Wall Street investment banks/brokerage firms.THe question is how much of this can be laid at Greenspan's door ? I would argue that he can be held to be no more than 25% responsible for the current fiasco resulting from subprime mortgage backed loans and collateralized debt obligations.H ignores the fundamental responsibility of the three other types of regulator.These other important cogs in the machine needed to prevent speculative bubbles are (A)the Comptroller of the Currency,(B) the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC),and (C) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(and Federal Savings and LoanInsurance Corporation).These 3 regulatory agencies were heavily staffed with libertarian and Austrian analysts, who do not know the difference between enterprise and speculation,starting early in the Reagan administration.None of the three bubbles identified by H could have occurred under the watch of a Bill Casey at the helm of the SEC.
H could have improved the book substantially if he had devoted a chapter showing how both Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes had arrived at exactly the same conclusion regarding the severe negative costs that speculation imposes on an economy,be it either from loans made by banks to speculators or,even worse,if the banks themselves become active speculators,which is what has happened in the USA.Smith and Keynes warned about the consequences that result when the aggregate savings of the population is lent out to either Smith's "projectors,prodigals,and imprudent risk takers "(Smith,Wealth of Nations,1776,pp.339-340,Modern Library(Cannan)edition)or Keynes's" speculators" and "rentiers"(General Theory,1936,pp.321-327,338-353,374-377)-the result is that the savings of a country will be " wasted and destroyed ".Everything that has occurred since 1981 confirms the Smith- Keynes warnings.
 He is not god! February 16, 2008
11 out of 62 found this review helpful
Greenspan's mistakes caused the following:
* The stock market crash of 1987
* The Savings & Loan crisis
* The collapse of Long Term Capital Management
* The tech bubble of 2000
* The feared Y2K disaster
* The credit bubble and real estate crisis of 2007
Absolutely not! Each crisis has its own origin and consequence. Each case is a long Ph.D. thesis or more for the economist to do more research.
Y2K is not a disaster. Everything that might go wrong, worked out well. Yes, the real estate 2007 bubble is still a problem. But like anything else, there is always a buyer when the price is right. In Manhattan, there is no real estate bubble. Prices are still going up.
America is still the leading country for investments for everyone. Brazilian, Russian, Indian, and Chinese (BRIC)companies are all coming in the next few years to set up plants, buying our companies, stocks, bonds, mutual funds,hedge funds, using soverign wealth fund, cash, equity, debt financing, etc. Jobs will be created and prosperity continues.
Greenspan or Bernanke is just one person. He cannot control or cause the bubble. I agree that the title is good for selling books. For that, I give two stars for W. Fleckenstein. But I disagree with your analysis
completely.
Bill Fleckeckenstein & Fred Sheehan are Right on the Mark February 15, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Bill Fleckenstein and Fred Sheehan de-sanctify the deity, Alan Greenspan. The absolutely absurd influence this man has had over our economy for the past 2 decades is astounding. The final chapter regarding the current housing crisis really hits home! Greenspan truly is the master of bubble blowing.
Bill Storey, San Antonio,TX
Pretty Good Account, for a Jouranlist February 10, 2008
3 out of 18 found this review helpful
Those with at least a bit of intelligence realize that Greenspan has caused so many financial problems. Yet, it has been the media (including MSN Money) that have worshipped him. While this book certainly does place blame (and rightly so) with Alan Greenspan for 3 asset bubbles and many over atrocities, the fact is that it's a bit too late to help investors now. Finally, why didn't the author write these things when Greenspan headed the Fed?
There have been quite a few books that have been previous written already saying many of the same things in this book so it really represents no new material. Still, the book was well-written and might serve to help wake the media up so they stop listening to the Fed, Wall Street, Cramer, Kudlow and others. They have always been wrong in the past and they will continue to be wrong in the future.
Instead of crying about it now, I would have liked to see the author help guide investors through this mess. But alas, he is merely a reporter. A much better book exists that details Greenspan's role in the collapsing US economy. This book provides a comprehensive view of the future and guides investors how to profit from Greenspan's mess. And it was written by a financial expert with NO vested interests (he doesn't run a firm and is not trying to get new investors or sell you gold). The book is "America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression." It's the most revealing investment related book I have ever read. America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression
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