ROBERT D. NOVAK: Sitting Pretty
Greenspan, Alan
SittingPretty AMONG THE ILLUSTRATIONS selected by Alan GreenspanforTheAgeofTurbulenceisawire service photo of him applauding newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton as he presented...
...He describes "a lasting bond" between him and Clinton'stwoveryliberalTreasurysecretaries,Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, describing a threesomeof "economicfoxholebuddies...
...Greenspan's colleagues at the Fed were horrifiedthathewasbeingluredintoaneasymoneypolicy that would accommodate President Clinton's high taxes...
...The hapless Gerald Ford, in whose administration Greenspan served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, is the only Republican president who gets high grades in this book...
...It is nevermentionedbyGreenspan...
...But he is brutal about George W.'s failure to veto excessive spending passed by the Republican-controlled Congress...
...On his left is Tipper Gore, also applauding as she looks at the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board...
...In a rare admission of error, Greenspandoesconcedethathisassaultof"irrational exuberance"byinvestorswasamistakeninterference withequitymarkets...
...While the chairman derides the president for interfering with the Fed's fiscal policy, he freely intervenes in fiscal policy with encouragement for Bush's politically disastrous and economically depressing 1990 tax increase...
...He also inaccurately depicts himself as reluctantlyacceptingReagan'sbidtobecomeFedchairman in 1987, when in fact he vigorously lobbied for the job (even with me, who had little or no influence in the ReaganWhiteHouse...
...Greenspanneverdescribesthisasamemoir,andit certainlyisnotoneifthatgenresuggestssomeoneopen-inghismind,hislife,andhishearttothepublic.Iwasdisappointedthathehadsolittletodiscloseabouthismembership in extreme libertarian novelist and activist Ayn Rand'sinnercircle...
...The Republicans, Greenspanwrites,"swappedprincipleforpower.They ended up with neither...
...Of the four presidents who each nominated him aschairmanoftheFed,Greenspanhasagoodwordto sayonlyofClinton,theloneDemocrat.Hesimplycannot forgive Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes for their tax-cut advocacy...
...DISMISSIVE TOWARD Reagan's "odd form of intelligence," Greenspan does not even examine the precepts of supply-side economics if only to reject them...
...He does notdwellonhowaRanditewhostillcallshimselfalibertarian changes from dogmatic anti-taxer to a hightax central banker whose career has been regulation and guidance of markets...
...His contempt for George W. Bush and his tax cuts is palpable, as he writes that "there was no room in the administration for an outspoken deficit hawk like Paul O'Neill"--Bush's first, totallydysfunctionalsecretaryofthetreasury...
...The battle for capitalism is never won...
...Greenspan doesnotsay.Heappearstobeatotallysecularman,but hedoesnotexplorehowthathasshapedhisworldview...
...Indeed, Greenspan emerges in these pages as an intractable foe of supply-side economics (though he utters the forbidden words "supply side" only once and then in derogation) because of his monomaniaabout budget deficits...
...In fact, his presence at the first lady's side made it seem he was endorsing President Clinton's massive tax increase...
...That may be all too true, but what about the runaway domestic spending pushed by Clinton, while sharply cutting defense spending...
...But what new notions specifically and what contradictions...
...When Clinton's policies produced a 28 percent approval rating and a dozen years of RepublicancontrolinCongressstartingin1995, Greenspan derides the Republican-passed tax cutandpraisesClinton'sveto...
...AynRandbecameastabilizingforce in my life," Greenspan writes, transforming him from a number-crunching economist to a big thinker...
...Greenspan was in political Siberia, as he made clear to me in our occasional breakfasts in Washington when he visited the capital...
...Withitsenergyandmilitary assets,Russiawillbeamajorplayerontheworldscene fordecadesahead.Yetitisfartoosoontoconcludewhat type of player it will be...
...Greenspan never truly addresses the impact of lower taxesoneconomicgrowth...
...Since neither Republicans nor Democrats are serious about cutting spending, Greenspan seems to conclude the only way to reduce deficitsistoraisetaxes.Thus,ultra-liberalDemocratic partisanRubinbecomesafellow"fiscalconservative...
...Yet,TheMaestro(asBobWoodwarddubbedhim) is viewed as the Delphic Oracle...
...The secretive, reclusive central banker is extraordinarily revealing about that relationship...
...Or did he...
...Two decadeslater,RandwaspresentasGreenspanwassworn intoPresidentFord'sseniorstaff.However,hisRandite "fervorreceded,"hesays,as"contradictionsinherentin mynewnotionsbegantoemerge...
...When I reported that situation, the Chairman telephoned me--my last such call from him--to protest...
...As someone who grew up the only child of a divorced mother in the lowermiddleclassJewishneighborhoodofWashington HeightsinNewYorkCity,itwouldbesurprisingifhedid notreceiveatleastsomeJewishreligioustraining.Had his mother left the Jewish faith...
...How those choices [of China between democracy and dictatorship] evolve will have profound implications not only for China but alsofortheworldatlarge...
...Thatworldviewexpressedinthesecondhalfofthe book is detailed but not profound...
...The vice president's wife, showninprofile,isapparentlysmiling.Butthereisno doubt about the facial expression of the woman on Greenspan's right: Hillary Clinton, shown in front viewbeaminginadorationatthecentralbanker...
...TheatheistAynRandwasGreenspan'sgod,buthe is silent about his relationship with God...
...The second half, comprising his economic assessment of the nation and the world, maynotbetotallyunreadablebut isveryheavygoing.Thislookslike the prototypical number one bestseller that many buy but few read when it comes to the final 280 pages...
...SittingPretty AMONG THE ILLUSTRATIONS selected by Alan GreenspanforTheAgeofTurbulenceisawire service photo of him applauding newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton as he presented his "deficit reduction package" to a joint session of Congress...
...They deserved to lose [in the 2006 elections...
...The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World By Alan Greenspan (PENGUIN PRESS, 532 PAGES, $35) Reviewed by Robert D. Novak When Clinton presented his tax increase to Congress, Greenspan writes, "I told him that his plan was our best chance in forty years to get stable longterm growth...
...I had not realized how deeply Greenspan (who describes himself here as a "life-long libertarian Republican") was embedded in a liberal Democratic administration...
...and he asked for my assessment of world leaders whom he hadn't yet met...
...A scheduled one-hour meeting stretched into three hours, enough for Greenspan to rate Clinton with Richard Nixon as the two smartest presidents he knew.Itwasloveatfirstsight.B O O K SI NR E V I E W 7 2 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Robert D. Novakis a nationally syndicated columnist, a commentator for Fox News, and the author of The PrinceofDarkness:50YearsReportinginWashington (CrownForum...
...He seemed to pick up my urgency about the deficit, and asked a lot of smart questions that politicians don't usually ask...
...The president-elect had invited the Federal Reserve chairman to an "economic summit" and put on the full Clinton treatment, as Greenspan candidlyrecords:"Tomydelight,Clintonseemedfully engaged...
...Greenspan does not say as he disposes of this decisive chapter in his life in a few pages...
...Latin America demonstrates that perhaps moreclearlythananyotherregion...
...This530-pagebookisdividedevenlyintotwodissimilar parts...
...Greenspan's book caption says "the political theater of the seating made me slightly uncomfortable...
...Butinthetextofthis book, he explains: "I was intent on building a working relationship with this president, who seemed fiscally responsible...
...Greenspan is in the presidential box of the House of Representatives...
...Greenspan's embrace of Clinton's tax increase while ignoring his spending increases contrastswithachillydoublestandardregarding George H. W. Bush...
...In fact, Greenspan's public comments during the campaign about reducing the budget deficit through anymeansavailableweresoimpoliticthatNixonaides cast him aside after the election...
...The pass Greenspan awarded to Clinton may be tracedtotheirmeetinginLittleRockshortlyafterthe 1992 election...
...Greenspan's self-portrait as a private person evading power and public notice does not comport withreality.Hetellsanunlikelystoryofdecliningabid to serve in the Nixon administration because of a single experience during the 1968 campaign in which he experiencedanoutpouringofNixon'sfamousprofanity...
...Partly autobiographical,itcontainsfascinating revelations of Greenspan's real relations with the presidents and administrationsheserved...
...When President Ford asked whether a $16 billion tax rebate would hurt economic growth, Greenspan said he replied: "As long as it's a one-shot deal and doesn't becomepermanent,it'snotgoingtodomuchharm...
...But the first half provides meaty stuff for anybody interested in what goes on in the Washington scene...
...Can someone who writesthattheU.S.invasionofIraqwasallaboutoilbe takenseriously?Fourpresidentsdid,enoughtoname himtohighoffice.B O O K SI NR E V I E W N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 3 Greenspan'sembraceofClinton'stax increasewhileignoringhisspending increasescontrastswithachillydouble standardregardingGeorgeH.W.Bush...
Vol. 40 • November 2007 • No. 9
