- Alan Greenspan dead at 100…
- Greenspan’s meeting with St. Peter…
- A Multi-Billionaire and Early Open AI Investor just made a stunning prediction. He just laid out his full research in a free presentation. For the time being, you can watch it here.
Dear Reader,
I note that Mr. Alan Greenspan, aged 100 years, has at last paid his debt to nature.
Thus he has put in appearance before St. Peter, heaven’s gate minder.
Being a man of the Judaic faith, he was rather startled to find himself there. Yet there he was.
And so he requested entry.
I have obtained a transcript of their conversation, revealed herein.
GREENSPAN: Hello, St. Peter. I must admit that I didn’t expect to meet you, but I can’t deny that I’m in fact here. The Grim Reaper finally came for me. Can you believe it? And so I throw myself upon your mercy, and request entry to the heavenly realm which you guard so admirably.
PETER: Hmmm. There’s a saying on Earth that only the good die young. I see you lived to be 100. What am I to infer from this? Believe me, I have every intention of giving you a fair hearing. But let me just say it now: If I were a betting man, I would take the “under,” so to speak. And in the present context, “under” carries a literal connotation.
At any rate, let us proceed. Let me inspect your dossier (Peter begins thumbing through the document).
Your credentials are impressive indeed. You were the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from 1987 to 2006 — 18 years — making you the longest-serving individual in that position. You even earned the title “Maestro” for you apparent ability to manipulate the economy and stock market to unprecedented wealth.
GREENSPAN: (With blushing cheeks) Well, I mean, I don’t like to brag or anything, but yeah.
PETER: I see. Let’s take a little deeper look into your career, shall we? Let’s start with the stock market crash of October 1987, which became known as “Black Monday.”
GREENSPAN: (Confident, beaming) An excellent place to start, if I do say so myself.
PETER: My records indicate that you rushed in to rescue the stock market with rate cuts and liquidity injections. In the process you established the “Greenspan put,” wherein the market expected the Federal Reserve to ride to its rescue whenever it ran into trouble.
Is this true?
GREENSPAN: Yes, it certainly is true. I did what I needed to do to stabilize the market. I’m rather proud of it, actually.
PETER: But you interfered with the natural order of events. Did you ever consider the possibility that the Big Guy wanted a market crash to teach people about the perils of excess speculation, and to remind them that true wealth is created through honest work?
Instead you stuck your nose in and interfered. In the process you facilitated the creation of bubble after bubble because wealthy stock market speculators knew they’d be bailed out if their bets went wrong. You essentially destroyed the free market and turned the stock market into a rigged casino for the very rich. And what did the average person get from the bailouts? Nothing but the bill.
Are you really sure you want to be proud of this?
GREENSPAN: Well, I did what I thought was the right thing. I was trying to do good.
PETER: I’m sure you’re familiar with an old Earth saying — “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Well…
I recall when your own country’s Woodrow Wilson appeared in your very spot long ago. He pleaded that he entered World War I to make the world safe for democracy. He may have meant it, too. But look at the results. What he really made the world safe for were fascism and communism.
Around here we judge on the results, not on intentions. There’s no grading on a curve here. I think it obvious that I was forced to turn him away.
GREENSPAN: But do you know how hard it is to resist all that praise I received for managing the stock market and economy? You said it yourself, they were calling me Maestro. How could I just return to a laissez-faire approach in the face of all that adulation?
If I did nothing after a crash, they would have denounced me. I wouldn’t have been invited to all those Georgetown cocktail parties where everyone kissed my backside. My reputation would have been in shambles.
PETER: Then you were guilty of the sin of pride as well? You realize of course that that does not factor in your favor. Pride, after all, is one of the deadly sins.
GREENSPAN: That’s not what I meant. That’s not what I meant. Jeeez, come on.
PETER: Perhaps I should advise you of your right to remain silent. You do enjoy that right here — though I admit it may prejudice the judge.
Anyway, while we’re on the topic of deadly sins, the stock market speculation you underwrote encouraged the other deadly sins of greed and envy — and let me throw in gluttony for good measure.
Remember, I am less interested in your intentions than in the fruit of your actions. And your actions yielded some rather sour fruit, I must say.
GREENSPAN: I really don’t think that’s very fair. I mean, I can’t control human nature. And look, I’ve lived a pretty upstanding life. I never killed anyone, I tried to be a good husband and father, I was even kind to animals. That’s got to count for something.
PETER: Indeed it does count for something. But I have to consider the totality of your Earthly existence. Being a public figure of considerable influence, this aspect of your life bears substantial scrutiny.
Let me here quote an obituary of your public record, written by a free market advocate by the name of Ryan McMaken:
- Before the 2008 financial crisis, Greenspan had been regarded as almost superhuman in his leadership on the Fed board, and he was credited as playing a key role in the strong economic growth of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- Later, however, it became apparent that much of this economic growth was actually just an enormous bubble created through monetary stimulus. Indeed, Greenspan had engineered the housing bubble to serve as the conduit for easy-money fueled stimulus designed to bring the US out of the 2001 recession.
GREENSPAN: Now wait a minute. That’s not fair!
PETER: Says who? Here’s more:
- Greenspan was putting into place the system that is now used routinely to bail out banks and wealthy asset holders, justified by the claim that this is all in the service of “the economy.”
- Through Greenspan, the model of all post-2008 Fed chairs has established and encouraged. Greenspan laid the foundations for the highly inflationist tenures of Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, and — probably — Kevin Warsh.
- Since 2008, the Fed has relentless claimed vast new powers, such as its abilities to acquire vast hordes of Treasury and mortgage assets, and to intervene in virtually every aspect of the US economy.
- The result has been the relative impoverishment of the lower half of the American income scale, while providing immense increases in wealth for asset holders as the top.
Shall I continue, Mr. Greenspan?
GREENSPAN: I’d really rather you didn’t. This makes me sound like a terrible person. I’m telling you, I’m not — or I wasn’t — or whatever.
PETER: I’m not saying you were a terrible person, especially compared to some of the characters that have appeared before me over the millennia. But my standards are strict.
Let me finish reading:
The Federal Reserve has always been a tool of the wealthy ruling classes, of course, but Greenspan served as an especially important cog in this machine by increasing the Fed’s prerogatives within the global economy, while also building political support for himself and the Fed overall.
Greenspan’s career as an amoral social climber and politico is well documented in a 2010 biography by Frederick Sheehan titled Panderer to Power.
Mr. Greenspan, I can only call the foregoing information damning.
And I don’t use the word “damning” lightly given the serious nature of my job. I think you know what I mean.
GREENSPAN: Yes, I think I do.
PETER: Well, Greenspan, , I believe I’ve seen enough. I’m ready to pronounce sentence (reaches for Greenspan’s dossier, seizes a stamping tool and stamps the document).
I’m sorry, but the weight of evidence against you is simply too great for me to ignore. You prospered the wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes. That doesn’t go over well with the Big Guy.
And do you recall your Matthew 19:24 — “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?”
You were quite a rich man, Mr. Greenspan.
Entry denied! (Hands Greenspan his papers.)
GREENSPAN: Wait, please give me another chance! You can’t deny that I’ve actually done some good in my life.
PETER: I don’t deny it. But I’m afraid the totality of your record outweighs it. My decision is final. Bailiff, will you please escort the applicant to the elevator.
GREENSPAN (Being dragged away) No, no, please don’t do this to me! I don’t deserve this.
PETER: Goodbye, Mr. Greenspan.
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
