This guy is as anti-big government as Mao. How this guy is even allowed on television after it is clear that his low interest rate policy, when he was Fed chairman, was responsible for the real estate crisis is nothing but a testament to how mainstream media will support anyone who continues to advance the big government cause.
Murray Rothbard nailed Greenspan decades ago. In 1987 Rothbard wrote:
The astute observer might feel that anyone accorded such unanimous applause from the Establishment couldn't be all good, and in this case he would be right on the mark...Even his former lover, Barbara Walters, called him out for being a hypocrite. In her autobiography, Audition, she wrote:
Greenspan's real qualification is that he can be trusted never to rock the establishment's boat. He has long positioned himself in the very middle of the economic spectrum. He is, like most other long-time Republican economists, a conservative Keynesian, which in these days is almost indistinguishable from the liberal Keynesians in the Democratic camp. In fact, his views are virtually the same as Paul Volcker, also a conservative Keynesian. Which means that he wants moderate deficits and tax increases, and will loudly worry about inflation as he pours on increases in the money supply.
There is one thing, however, that makes Greenspan unique, and that sets him off from his Establishment buddies. And that is that he is a follower of Ayn Rand, and therefore "philosophically" believes in laissez-faire and even the gold standard. But as the New York Times and other important media hastened to assure us, Alan only believes in laissez-faire "on the high philosophical level." In practice, in the policies he advocates, he is a centrist like everyone else because he is a "pragmatist."
As an alleged "laissez-faire pragmatist," at no time in his prominent twenty-year career in politics has he ever advocated anything that even remotely smacks of laissez-faire, or even any approach toward it. For Greenspan, laissez-faire is not a lodestar, a standard, and a guide by which to set one's course; instead, it is simply a curiosity kept in the closet, totally divorced from his concrete policy conclusions.
Thus, Greenspan is only in favor of the gold standard if all conditions are right: if the budget is balanced, trade is free, inflation is licked, everyone has the right philosophy, etc. In the same way, he might say he only favors free trade if all conditions are right: if the budget is balanced, unions are weak, we have a gold standard, the right philosophy, etc. In short, never are one's "high philosophical principles" applied to one's actions. It becomes almost piquant for the Establishment to have this man in its camp.
How Alan Greenspan, a man who believed in the philosophy of little government interference and few rules or regulations, could end up becoming chairman of the greatest regulatory agency in the country [The Federal Reserve] is beyond me. It was a big issue [between us] when Alan was first appointed...
Alan Greenspan's 'hypocritical' performance as both gold standard advocate and fiat money master can be understood if you look closely at the 1981 Gold Commission findings and Alan Greenspan's book 'The Age of Turbulence'.
ReplyDeleteThe Commission's majority view (comprised of apologists for the banksters) recommended no changes to the monetary system. but the minority view (including Ron Paul), concluded that the gold standard was not feasible under the current political landscape but "If reasonable price stability and confidence in our currency are not restored in the years ahead, we believe that those who advocate an immediate return to gold will grow in numbers and political influence."
Greenspan, who was greatly influenced by Rand, Adam Smith, and John Locke, was appointed as an outsider as FED chairman by Reagan 6 years later. I believe, Greenspan has been a double agent all these years. He has pandered to the Keynesian's publicly all the while ensuring that the "stability and confidence in our currency" was given the death sentence.
Perhaps Bernanke, who prints money on a scale that would make Greenspan blush, but was an acknowledged protege of Greenspan, is also a fiat currency saboteur.
I believe this theory is the only explanation for both chairman's schizophrenic performance. And Ron Paul has probably been in on the secret the whole time. This is apparent when you read the transcripts of Paul's hearings with Greenspan in the witness chair.
Nice theory Roland. But Greenspan had better come clean, so as to win the praise of the Austrians/free marketers, etc., soon. He doesn't have long to bask in the glory of saving the world by wrecking it first.
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