Comments on: Alan Greenspan’s tattered legacy http://www.troymedia.com/?p=5760 awareness, public policy, news analysis Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:51:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: mtnrunner2 http://www.troymedia.com/?p=5760&cpage=1#comment-101 mtnrunner2 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:20:20 +0000 http://www.troymedia.com/?p=5760#comment-101 It's interesting that the divide between Greenspan and Ayn Rand's Objectivism is mentioned, because that separation is something that is often missed by those who wish to tar and feather Rand, Greenspan, capitalism, and recession by alleged association. Although initially Rand was apparently proud to have her intellectual associate work in such high places as the U.S. government, Greenspan could not deliver on the promise of promoting capitalism while at the head of what is essentially a government-run central bank. Laissez-faire capitalists like Rand want to abolish the Fed, not run it. I am an Objectivist, and I can tell you based on his recent remarks, Greenspan is no longer an advocate of laissez-faire as Rand envisioned it. During the last decade, Greenspan was apparently the unwitting (I would hope) handmaiden of leftist housing policy. The Fed kept rates too low, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped to facilitate risky mortgages and the CRA funneled money into high-risk loans. Everything was geared towards getting people into homes whether they could afford them or not. It is precisely these attempts to *override* free markets in housing that led to the bubble, not "free markets" -- which don't exist. This book sounds like an intriguing alternative to prevailing opinion; I'll have to check it out. Jeff Montgomery http://funwithgravity.blogspot.com It’s interesting that the divide between Greenspan and Ayn Rand’s Objectivism is mentioned, because that separation is something that is often missed by those who wish to tar and feather Rand, Greenspan, capitalism, and recession by alleged association.

Although initially Rand was apparently proud to have her intellectual associate work in such high places as the U.S. government, Greenspan could not deliver on the promise of promoting capitalism while at the head of what is essentially a government-run central bank. Laissez-faire capitalists like Rand want to abolish the Fed, not run it. I am an Objectivist, and I can tell you based on his recent remarks, Greenspan is no longer an advocate of laissez-faire as Rand envisioned it.

During the last decade, Greenspan was apparently the unwitting (I would hope) handmaiden of leftist housing policy. The Fed kept rates too low, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped to facilitate risky mortgages and the CRA funneled money into high-risk loans. Everything was geared towards getting people into homes whether they could afford them or not. It is precisely these attempts to *override* free markets in housing that led to the bubble, not “free markets” — which don’t exist.

This book sounds like an intriguing alternative to prevailing opinion; I’ll have to check it out.

Jeff Montgomery
http://funwithgravity.blogspot.com

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