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Alan Greenspan’s biography The Age of Turbulence was a deep and personally meaningful read. I am so inspired by Mr. Greenspan’s knowledge, humility and integrity demonstrated over his tenure as Federal Reserve Board Chairman from 1987 to 2006. His role as the head of our Central Bank was an immense challenge, working under continual scrutiny as a public servant yet required to be non-partisan, resisting sometimes overt political pressures. The assignment was to manage the monetary policy of the largest and most complex economy on earth, while balancing the inevitable effects of those same policies upon the emerging global economy.
Prior to his time as Fed Chairman, Mr. Greenspan served in the highest levels of U.S. economic posts for the past 40 years. He speaks candidly about his relationships with Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He discusses the insider’s view at the fall of the Berlin Wall when the world unequivocally discovered the complete failure of central planning. I hold my breath as he explains the choices made to cease economic support for a crumbling USSR, causing the entire world to wonder whether rogue generals would sell Soviet nuclear missiles on the Black Market to the highest bidder. I marvel at the weightiness he lived under during Y2K and 911, Monica Lewinsky and Desert Storm.
For almost 60 years, Mr. Greenspan has been present to study, interpret and influence economic and political leaders both domestically and internationally (China, Russia and others).
The book is divided into two parts. The first half retraces his personal education and experience including his personal friendship with Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged). The second half is his personal effort to forecast the forces that will press upon our nation between now (2007 was his publishing date) and the year 2030.
Here are some pithy quotes I’ve selected from the book:
The defining moment for the world’s economies was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,
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