Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve - Hardcover

Fleckenstein, William; Sheehan, Frederick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071591583 ISBN 13: 9780071591584

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2008

Synopsis

The stock market crash of 1987, the Savings & Loan crisis, the Asian crisis, the collapse of Long Term Capital Management, the stock market bubble of 2000, the feared Y2K crisis, and now the housing crisis – Alan Greenspan has a long history of slashing interest rates to bail out investors who should not need rescuing. In times past, Greenspan’s avuncular style carried him through...as did his sage pronouncements of conundrums and the wall of worry.

But people in the know including Bill Fleckenstein were not convinced, and in Greenspan’s Bubbles our author reveals why the economic decline and market chaos he and others predicted in 2003 has come to pass. More importantly, Fleckenstein makes a compelling case of Greenspan’s culpability as a serial bubble blower and the individual responsible for our fragile financial state.

Fleckenstein explains just how far-reaching Greenspan’s mess has been flung, and presents damning evidence that contradicts the former Fed chairman’s public naiveté concerning shifts in the market and the economy. In newly released transcripts of private meetings, it is clear that Greenspan had a much better understanding of the effects his decisions would have. Highlights of these meetings will be featured throughout the book, as will a timeline of disastrous decisions that were ultimately left for someone else to clean up.

Whether banker, broker, CEO, homeowner, hedge fund manager, 401-K holder or politician, people have been conditioned to believe that the Fed would ride to their rescue before any serious calamity could befall them. Their views towards risk have been altered as have expectations about future investment gains. The country has taken on more leverage and assumed more risk because 20 years of Alan Greenspan has taught them that the Fed will always bail them out and that asset (stocks and real estate) prices will always go higher. The author believes that the fall out of the Greenspan Put is a country in for a rude awakening. The problem is too big to bail out, and has affected markets at home and around the world, leaving billion dollar hedge funds by the world’s most prominent brokerages in its wake.

Greenspan’s Bubbles is a no-holds barred, lock-stock-and-barrel portrayal of how Greenspan’s words and actions have led a generation to behave in ways that would never stand the test of time, seriously damaging the financial and economic stability of investors and citizens alike. In this story, the big bear catches up with Goldilocks.

About this title

Product Description:

This is the book that burst Easy Al's bubble - revealing the real story behind Alan Greenspan. "The New York Times" nicknamed him "Mr. Bubble" for his role in creating the two largest bubbles in recent years: in the stock market and the housing market. Now, MSN Money columnist Bill Fleckenstein reveals the unvarnished truth behind Greenspan's "Age of Recklessness". By slashing interest rates to bail out investors, Greenspan made a lot of people rich but his actions resulted in the dot-com disaster of 2000 and the mortgage mess of 2007. But Greenspan's recklessness goes back even further - to the crash of 1987, the Savings & Loan crisis, the implosion of Long Term Capital Management, and even the Asian crisis. This no-holds-barred account finally exposes Greenspan as the worst Fed Chairman ever - and offers an economic wake-up call for citizens and investors.

Review:

Before Ben Bernake shovels more cash into the US's money trap, he should read Greenspan's Bubbles.
-- Bloomberg News, March 14, 2008

Devastating portrait of the man who perverted the concept of risk.
-- Le Temps, March 5, 2008

Greenspan's Bubbles ... is a powerful indictment of Greenspan and his Federal Reserve Board -- Resourceinvestor.com, April 2008

It's harsh to point the finger...yet Fleckenstein and Sheehan's argument is clear, well devised, and provides thorough evidence.
-- Worldfinance.com, April 2008

The lesson this book teaches is clear: "The financial world Greenspan left behind will be treacherous"... We have been warned.
-- African Business, April 2008

The story of Greenspan's part in the sub-prime debacle is told with wit and clarity by William Fleckenstein.
-- Daily Telegraph Online, March 19, 2008

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0071591583
• ISBN 13: 9780071591584
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208