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The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Greenspan
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  213 reviews
Sales Rank: 525
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 1594201315
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.11092
EAN: 9781594201318
ASIN: 1594201315
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
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Condition: very good hardcover without dustjacket. penguin, 2007. no marks inside!!
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Book Description
In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, in his fourteenth year as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan took part in a very quiet collective effort to ensure that America didn't experience an economic meltdown, taking the rest of the world with it. There was good reason to fear the worst: the stock market crash of October 1987, his first major crisis as Federal Reserve Chairman, coming just weeks after he assumed control, had come much closer than is even today generally known to freezing the financial system and triggering a genuine financial panic. But the most remarkable thing that happened to the economy after 9/11 was...nothing. What in an earlier day would have meant a crippling shock to the system was absorbed astonishingly quickly. After 9/11 Alan Greenspan knew, if he needed any further reinforcement, that we're living in a new world - the world of a global capitalist economy that is vastly more flexible, resilient, open, self-directing, and fast-changing than it was even 20 years ago. It's a world that presents us with enormous new possibilities but also enormous new challenges. The Age of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan's incomparable reckoning with the nature of this new world - how we got here, what we're living through, and what lies over the horizon, for good and for ill-channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy for longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. He begins his account on that September 11th morning, but then leaps back to his childhood, and follows the arc of his remarkable life's journey through to his more than 18-year tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, from 1987 to 2006, during a time of transforming change. Alan Greenspan shares the story of his life first simply with an eye toward doing justice to the extraordinary amount of history he has experienced and shaped. But his other goal is to draw readers along the same learning curve he followed, so they accrue a grasp of his own understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive world events. In the second half of the book, having brought us to the present and armed us with the conceptual tools to follow him forward, Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour de horizon of the global economy. He reveals the universals of economic growth, delves into the specific facts on the ground in each of the major countries and regions of the world, and explains what the trend-lines of globalization are from here. The distillation of a life's worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspan's personal and intellectual legacy. | | A Timeline of a Remarkable Career | | Mar. 6, 1926 | | Born in New York City | | 1936 | | At 10 sees Roosevelt campaigning; becomes expert on the 1936 Yankees | | 1938 | | Takes up clarinet at 12 | | 1943-44 | | Studies clarinet at Julliard | | Mid 1944 | | Joins Henry Jerome Band | | 1948 | | Graduates (summa cum laude) from New York University. (He later earns a master's in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1977, also from NYU.) Hired as economic analyst at the Conference Board. | | 1954-74 | | Co-founds Townsend-Greenspan & Co. Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City. (He returns in 1977.) | | 1974 | | Nominated by President Ford as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors. | | 1983 | | Chair of bipartisan National Commission on Social Security Reform. | | June 1, 1987 | | Nominated by President Reagan for Fed Chair. Confirmed by Senate August 3. | | Oct. 19, 1987 | | Only 69 days into Greenspan's term, the Dow drops 508 points and 22%. | | July 10, 1991 | | Nominated by President George H.W. Bush to a second term as Fed Chairman. Later nominated to a third (February 22, 1996) and fourth term (January 4, 2000) by President Clinton. | | Apr. 6, 1997 | | Marries Andrea Mitchell | | May 18, 2004 | | Nominated by President George W. Bush for a fifth term as Fed chairman | | Jan. 31, 2006 | | Completes 18 years at the Fed | | Feb. 1, 2006 | | Forms Greenspan Associates LLC, an economic consulting firm | | | Alan Greenspan's Top 10 Classical and Jazz Favorites
Before Alan Greenspan embarked on his legendary financial career, he studied the clarinet at Julliard and played as a professional jazz musician (while doing tax returns for his bandmates). He chose 10 favorites for us from a lifetime of listening, including:
|  | Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23
|  | Vivaldi, Complete Cello Concertos
|  | Coleman Hawkins, "Body and Soul"
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Product Description
In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, in his fourteenth year as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan took part in a very quiet collective effort to ensure that America didn't experience an economic meltdown, taking the rest of the world with it. There was good reason to fear the worst: the stock market crash of October 1987, his first major crisis as Federal Reserve Chairman, coming just weeks after he assumed control, had come much closer than is even today generally known to freezing the financial system and triggering a genuine financial panic. But the most remarkable thing that happened to the economy after 9/11 was...nothing. What in an earlier day would have meant a crippling shock to the system was absorbed astonishingly quickly.
After 9/11 Alan Greenspan knew, if he needed any further reinforcement, that we're living in a new world - the world of a global capitalist economy that is vastly more flexible, resilient, open, self-directing, and fast-changing than it was even 20 years ago. It's a world that presents us with enormous new possibilities but also enormous new challenges. The Age of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan's incomparable reckoning with the nature of this new world - how we got here, what we're living through, and what lies over the horizon, for good and for ill-channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy for longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. He begins his account on that September 11th morning, but then leaps back to his childhood, and follows the arc of his remarkable life's journey through to his more than 18-year tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, from 1987 to 2006, during a time of transforming change.
Alan Greenspan shares the story of his life first simply with an eye toward doing justice to the extraordinary amount of history he has experienced and shaped. But his other goal is to draw readers along the same learning curve he followed, so they accrue a grasp of his own understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive world events. In the second half of the book, having brought us to the present and armed us with the conceptual tools to follow him forward, Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour de horizon of the global economy. He reveals the universals of economic growth, delves into the specific facts on the ground in each of the major countries and regions of the world, and explains what the trend-lines of globalization are from here. The distillation of a life's worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspan's personal and intellectual legacy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 208 more reviews...
 Worthy of Thought May 12, 2008
Too much of the criticism and accolades for Alan Greenspan's THE AGE OF TURBULENCE smell of political inflexibility. For those that don't like his negative comments regarding our current president, there seems to be a propensity to disregard 500 pages of historical economic perspective because one page doesn't read exactly how they would like. Others have claimed that Greenspan was only capable of considering conservative perspectives. As far as being self-serving - it is an autobiography. The reality is that there is a lot of useful and interesting information presented in this book. I would highly recommend this book, and ask that the reader leave their political presuppositions behind.
 Surprisingly Readable May 11, 2008
Greenspan's memoir is surprisingly readable, applicable, and enjoyable, even for someone with only an undergrad course in economics. This book is a great way to learn how the Fed works, as well as the motives behind major decisions made by Greenspan and other politicians during his career.
Highly recommended!
A very worthwhile read May 9, 2008
The first half (more or less) is mostly autobiographical and extremely interesting. Greenspan is able to provide the reader with many insights on a plethora of economic events and world leaders. The second half (again, more or less), is Greespan's take on many contemporary economic phenomena. Overall, Age of Turbulence is written clearly and succinctly and is a must read for anyone interested in the world economy.
Greenspan's life and reflections May 3, 2008
This book is a mixture of autobiography, economic history, and future prognostication. (In the final chapter of the book, the author forecasts what the world economy will look like in 2030---a daunting task even for the likes of Alan Greenspan.)
Alan Greenspan traces the course of his life from his teenage years (he originally wanted to be a jazz musician) to his chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. He also covers his years as a private consultant.
What will be of more interest to most readers is Greenspan's extensive experience with so many presidents. (According to the ex-Fed chairman, our two most cerebral presidents of recent decades were Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.)
Greenspan is a libertarian Republican, but he has plenty of criticism for current GOP economic policies. Like many Americans, Greenspan laments the swelling of the deficit under George W. Bush.
A few other points and observations from the book:
Greenspan is an advocate of free trade orthodoxy. Like many in this camp, he glosses over the fact that free trade in the context of China means that American workers compete with Communist prison labor, and state-subsidized enterprises that are not subject to any environmental or workplace safety regulations. His assessment of free trade is textbook Adam Smith/Ricardo theory. (Free trade is beneficial, of course---provided that there is a truly level playing field, which is not the case at present.)
Greenspan says we should pay math teachers more. Since mathematics teachers have more opportunities in the private sector (compared to English literature teacher, for example), schools should pay them higher salaries. This makes sense to me.
Monetary authorities should hold down inflation despite political pressures. Once again, I agree with Greenspan. During economic slowdowns, the Fed is often pressured to pump more cash into the economy through monetary policy. The overuse of this technique is a major factor behind the hyperinflation of economies in the developing world. To support this argument, Greenspan discusses the history of Paul Volcker's inflationary restraints during the Reagan years. Volcker tamed inflation---but it cost us a recession in the early 1980s.
If you have an interest in economics, U.S. history, or Alan Greenspan, then you will enjoy this book. Although I don't agree with every one of his positions, Alan Greenspan is a brilliant man. Almost anyone can learn something from The Age of Turbulence.
Read this book. May 2, 2008
This book is well worth reading. It is the easiest read for an important nonfiction work that I can ever remember reading. It is difficult to put this book down. The first part of the book is an autobiography/History of Economics In Greenspan's lifetime. The last chapter contains his predictions.
The autobiographical part is well presented and interesting. Mr. Greenspan seems neither especially modest nor especially self-serving. But he doesn't seem to bare his soul, unless he is quite a simple man. Which may be true. He portrays for the reader a man who is a mathematician. A mathematician who diligently works to master Economics with statistics. He doesn't ever seem to really believe that Economics is at its core, a social science and not a hard science.
You should not mistake simplicity for shallowness however, there can be great depth in simplicity. Mr. Greenspan presents complicated ideas in a simple, straightforward way that makes them clear although fairly devoid of emotion or social context. The question one is left with is if he has been so powerful and durable in our country's upper crust because he is the reliable, guileless expert economist or if he is indeed a more subtle, politically aware expert who knows how to present everything in such a neutral manner that no one can object.
One example of this is the so-called surplus that happened at the end of Clinton's term of office. The Federal Government borrowed more money than it needed to balance the budget (from the Social Security trust fund) and named the excess borrowed money a surplus. Purists would argue that borrowing more money than you need, naming it a surplus, and spending it is absurd twisting of words and financially short sighted. Mr.Greenspan holds that the SS trust fund is in reality not a trust fund, that it is just another tax revenue stream for Congress to do with as it will. From the simplest practical viewpoint this is true. Congress has taken the Social Security fund moneys and spent them on whatever occurred to them for decades. From an unemotional, mathematical point of view there is no trust fund because no one treats it as such. For a political realist, words on paper mean nothing when preempted by the reality of unalterable government actions. So is he dispassionately describing the current situation or is Mr.Greenspan the savvy politician, knowing that both the Republicans and Democrats would like to claim they were responsible for the surplus and it would not do to publicly puncture both their balloons? He has stripped away any (politically charged) description of our current process and talks of possibilities for now that are devoid of any history or reason for how we arrived at now. No one in power will be offended or feel the need to defend themselves by his writing. No one will find any insight into avoiding the current financial ills of our country either.
In the last chapter Mr. Greenspan presents his predictions. His knowledge and expertise and style make very good reading again. Mr. Greenspan very neatly identifies the important forces acting on our future. Even if you know nothing of Economics you will be well prepared to understand this chapter after reading his book up to here. He also demonstrates the truism that if you laid all the world's economists end to end, they still would not reach a conclusion. He in fact has no conclusion, merely possibilities. He does mention, but glosses over the greatest weakness in America's economic future in such a way that you may not even notice it. It may be that it is no coincidence that it is a process that is not easily understood using statistics nor one that is correctable without actually identifying the groups that are causing the problem. The first is his only tool, while the second he can't bring himself to do.
This neutrality is really the weakness of this very interesting book and of his closing predictions. The Oracle of Delphi once told Croesus, a powerful king, that if he invaded his neighbor a great empire would be destroyed. She just left out whose empire would be destroyed. Croesus made the obvious error of misinterpretation. Mr. Greenspan's neutrality leaves the reader with no more information then that king whose ambition blinded him to the different interpretations possible for that vague prediction.
In a way the book helps you see the mindset that no one is ever responsible, no decision is ever faulty, there is only the "What are we going to do now?" that weakens the modern American scene. The parties and groups in Government and business vie to be the next great answer to our problems without ever acknowledging their part in their creation.
So readable, so engrossing, don't miss this book.
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