Features

Greenspan: The Man Behind Money, Justin Martin. Perseus Publishing, 284 pages, $28.00. Maestro: Greenspan’s Fed and the American Boom, Bob Woodward. Simon and Schuster, 270 pages, $25.00. For those seeking a personal portrait of America’s maximum economic-policy maker, Justin Martin’s biography of Alan Greenspan will serve nicely. Informed and sympathetic, Martin traces Greenspan’s personal and […]

This month, the economic boom enters its 107th month, making it the longest expansion in U.S. history. But there are now two small clouds on the economic horizon. With the economy having grown in the fourth quarter of 1999 not at the 3- or even 4-percent annual rate that most economists now consider sustainable, but […]

We’re not in a war economy yet. We’re in an economy that’s just plainsinking. What to do? Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has told Congress to”wait and see” what happens before enacting a stimulus package lest it createinflationary fantasies among traders of long-term bonds. In an extraordinary showof newly bipartisan gutlessness, our representatives in Washington […]

It is hard to believe that the Bush administration could be in so much trouble on so many fronts. Just in the past few weeks, Bush has found himself politically isolated on the issues of stem cell research, offshore oil drilling, prescription benefits under Medicare, patients’ rights, access to the United States for Mexican trucks, […]

P resident of the United States Economy Alan Greenspan is frustrated. George W., the mere president-elect, won’t deal. Worse, Greenspan can’t punish W. for not dealing. He can’t even credibly threaten punishment, because punishment is just what W. wants. Don’t throw me into that briar patch, Br’er Greenspan! The last two presidents have been willing […]

T he Communist Manifesto exults over the “specter haunting Europe”–the growth of communism. Today, America’s ability to grow in a socially equitable manner confronts a serious threat from another economic theory, one that shares with Marx’s construct its devotees’ loyalty in the face of strong contradictory evidence. This danger can be even more appropriately labeled […]

A newcomer to the United States, after reading the newspaper or watching television for a few days, might conclude that every family in America was huddled around their computers, watching their stocks and mutual funds rise and fall. Even the gloomier news reports of recent weeks (“How to Survive the Slump” blared a recent Time […]

Here’s the best news to come out of the otherwise screwed-up 2000 election: The political juggernaut that during the last third of the twentieth century transformed the states from staunch foes of gambling into gambling’s chief sponsors has slowed to a crawl. The voters of Arkansas rejected a lottery-casino ballot measure, joining the voters of […]

A decade of prosperity has convinced a fair portion of the punditry that the new hi-tech service economy has lifted us into an economic orbit beyond boom and bust, where recessions are history. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the laws of economic gravity no longer apply. Indeed, sensible people should now be preparing for […]

A lan Greenspan is known for his guarded pronouncements, carefully crafted in order to soothe financial markets. But in his semiannual testimony before the House Banking Committee this February, Greenspan did not mince words. He pointedly explained why stock prices should only rise as fast as disposable income. This would imply a growth rate for […]