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Monday, September 17, 2007

Greenspan on 60 Minutes

by Calculated Risk on 9/17/2007 01:53:00 AM

Here are the videos:

Greenspan on the Housing Crisis

Greenspan on Past & Future

NOTE: From the segment: "[Greenspan] got so close to Clinton and his economic team, that he began visiting the White House as often as once a month, something his predecessors had not done."

But 60 minutes didn't note that Greenspan spent far more time with Bush. (source)

In the 1996-2000 period it was apparently necessary for the chairman to visit the White House about 12 times per year, or once per month. For no apparent reason, Mr. Greenspan's visits to the White House tripled from just 12 in 2000 to 37 in 2001, when Bush took office.

Starting in January 2001 ... [Greenspan] visited the White House at least three times per month, with the only slowdown in June and July of that year.

What were previously monthly meetings continued to skyrocket to over one per week in both 2002 (55 meetings) and 2003 (68 meetings).

These White House meetings since 2001 were with officials at the highest level, something Mr. Greenspan did not do in 2000 or apparently since 1996 based on his monthly meetings there. For example, in 2003 he met with the President once, Vice President Cheney seven times, Condoleezza Rice six times, and Chief of Staff Andy Card three times. In March 2003 he had 14 White House meetings, and in July 2003 he met with six members of the Cabinet, including Colin Powell.
Greenspan on Rising Inflation

Greenspan on Mortgage Meltdown

Greenspan on Iraq

A few reviews:

From Economist's View: What Did Greenspan Say and When Did He Say It?

Sad Alan’s Lament, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times (excerpts at Economist's View and Naked Capitalism)

A more favorable view from Greg Ip at the Wall Street Journal: Checking Greenspan’s Book Against Historical Record