Alan loves Clinton, resents Bush's exploiting his endorsement of the tax cuts, and is generally defensive but unrepentant about his role in blowing bubbles... promises to be an interesting book.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/business/15cnd-greenspan.html -------------------------------snip Mr. Bush, he writes, was never willing to contain spending or veto bills that drove the country into deeper and deeper deficits, as Congress abandoned rules that required that the cost of tax cuts be offset by savings elsewhere. "The Republicans in Congress lost their way," wrote Mr. Greenspan, a self-described "libertarian Republican." ............. He praises President Bush for letting the Federal Reserve stay independent of political pressure, saying he was scrupulous in not trying to interfere with monetary policy — which he contrasts sharply with the pressure exerted by his father, George H. W. Bush, in the early 1990s. For years the first President Bush has blamed Mr. Greenspan for contributing to his defeat in 1992 by failing to prevent a recession by cutting interest rates. Of the presidents he worked with, Mr. Greenspan reserves his highest praise for Bill Clinton, whom he described in the interview as a sponge for economic data who maintained "a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth." ............. Though he does not admit he made a mistake, he shows remorse about how Republicans jumped on his endorsement of the 2001 tax cuts to push through unconditional tax cuts without any safeguards against surprises. He recounts how Mr. Rubin and Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, begged him to hold off on an endorsement because of how it would be perceived. "It turned out that Conrad and Rubin were right," he acknowledges glumly. He says Republican leaders in Congress, made a grievous error in spending whatever it took to ensure permanent Republican majority. ............. Mr. Greenspan writes briefly about what may become a more troubling legacy: the housing bubble, and now the bust, that was fueled by low interest rates and risky mortgages over the past six years. Some economists argue that Mr. Greenspan deserves considerable blame, because it slashed interest rates to rock-bottom lows and kept them there for three years after the stock market collapse and the recession in 2001. .............. Mr. Greenspan, in his book, generically defends the Fed's action. "I believed then, as now, that the benefits of broadened home ownership are worth the risk. Protection of property rights, so critical to a market economy, requires a critical mass of owners to sustain political support." -raghu.
