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Alan Greenspan's greatest legacy may be the Fed's independence

Jan 10, 2024
Greenspan ignored political pressure to cut interest rates so that he could bring down inflation, says author Sebastian Mallaby.
Where did Alan Greenspan, above, go wrong? "In thinking that 2% inflation was the be-all and end-all," says Sebastian Mallaby, "because it turns out, of course, that economies can be disrupted by things other than the price of eggs going up too fast."
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

How the Fed has changed

Jul 12, 2018
A brief look at how five Fed chairs shifted the culture of the central bank.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill Feb. 27, 2018 in Washington, D.C. 
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Keep an eye on bonds, not the stock market

Aug 1, 2017
Alan Greenspan is warning in an interview with Bloomberg that we are in a bubble, a bond market bubble. The former Fed Chairman is concerned that inflation might surprise us and bond prices might fall sharply at some point in the near future. Here’s why that would be a disruptive thing. Click the audio player […]

How Alan Greenspan transformed the Fed

Oct 11, 2016
Kai Ryssdal talks with Sebastian Mallaby about his new book “The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan”
Alan Greenspan is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Shealah Craighead / George W. Bush Presidential Library Museum

Keating's legacy, from John McCain to a camp classic

Apr 2, 2014
Remembering Charles Keating, a well-known face of the 80s-90s S&L crisis.

When Geithner praised Greenspan

Jan 12, 2012
The minutes of Alan Greenspan's last meeting as chairman of the Federal Reserve were released today. It reveals some praising words from then-president of the New York Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner.

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"I Have Found a Flaw..."

Nov 8, 2011
These few words, a shocking admission at the time, were uttered by former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, back in October 2008. ...

Alan Greenspan's take on the state of the U.S. economy

Mar 14, 2011
This final note today, something to take our minds off Japan. Something a little lighter. Something, perhaps, from the mind of Alan Greenspan....