Product Description

The Age Of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan's incomparable reckoning with the contemporary financial world, channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. Following the arc of his remarkable life's journey through his more than eighteen-year tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to the present, in the second half of The Age of Turbulence Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour d'horizon of the global economy. 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #310052 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-17
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From Publishers Weekly
Greenspan offers a revealing yet monotonous look at the inner workings of the Federal Reserve and his career. Beginning with his childhood in Manhattan, where he learned percentages by memorizing Yankee batting statistics, Greenspan relates his tremendous passion for economics and politics that propelled him to become chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for nearly 20 years. While various tales about his often-troubled relationships with former presidents and their administrations will appeal to history buffs, the material is presented in a manner that makes the narration long-winded and dreary. As a biographical work, narrator Dean has little room for lyrical improvisation, and his solitary voice drones. An endless spew of facts and figures takes away from the more interesting aspects of the book, such as Greenspan's criticisms of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. While his pitch and clarity is perfect, Dean's voice becomes nagging and repetitive. It's disappointing that the author-read introduction included in the abridged audio version is not used here to provide a brief change in tone. The uninspired text and dialogue makes listening a tedious exercise by the halfway point. Simultaneous release with the Penguin Press hardcover.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
The former Fed chairman takes listeners through his career in government and finance and then tackles the big issues of the day, including energy supply and use, global finance, the rise of China and India, the change to a service economy, and what they all mean for the future of the U.S. Greenspan himself reads the introduction; obviously, he is no stranger to public speaking. The bulk of the text is then smoothly offered by Robertson Dean. At a steady pace he covers one complex problem after another with a warm delivery that keeps one listening, perhaps even re-listening. The abridgment is seamless; one wonders what was left out. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author
Alan Greenspan was born in 1926 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. After studying the clarinet at Juilliard and working as a professional musician, he earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Economics from New York University. In 1954, he co-founded the economic consulting firm Townsend-Greenspan & Co. From 1974 to 1977, he served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, a position he held until his retirement in 2006.

Customer Reviews

An interesting and timely book!
Greenspan calls 'The Age of Turbulence' a 'psychoanalysis of himself.' It begins (first half) with his early life, describing the events that provided his learning experiences (including his desire to become a baseball player, then a jazz musician), and then goes to his life of implementing those lessons. Undoubtedly the most interesting material included Greenspan's evaluations of the Presidents he had worked with. His observations were not the platitudes one might have expected. 'Nixon was very smart, paranoid,' and was an equal-opportunity disparager of all ethnic groups. Ford was the most normal, and sometimes looked past politics to focus on the ethics of an issue. Reagan's ability to spout seemingless endless one-liners and stories was an 'odd form of intelligence,' according to Greenspan.

Greenspan felt his relationship with Bush I was a disaster, with the President eventually blaming Greenspan for his losing the election to Clinton. Clinton, however, was most like a soul-mate to Greenspan - very intelligent, and one constantly working to soak up knowledge and understanding. Greenspan also labeled Clinton's '93 economic plan that focused on reducing the deficit as an 'act of political courage.' Finally, Greenspan's assessment of Bush II was that he was incurious about the effects of his own economic policy, and that Greenspan's biggest frustration with Bush II was his failure to veto any spending bills. Greenspan was told that Bush thought he could better control Speaker Hastert and Whip Delay by signing the spending bills they, however, were never reticent to spend more money to help assure more Republican congressmen.

Greenspan also added that he disagreed with Bush II's supply-side economic thinking, and that his endorsement of 'A' tax cut during 2001 was just that - not an endorsement of Bush's plan. Another problem was that the plan had no adjustment mechanism in the event assumptions did not pan out and the deficit began to rear up again. On the other hand, Greenspan does not tell the whole story. According to Paul Krugman (New York Times, 9/17/07), he could have clarified himself a few weeks later when he appeared before a Senate committee on the same topic and evaded questions on whether the proposed tax cuts were too large. Two years later when more cuts were proposed, Greenspan did not object, and in 2004 he expressed support for making the Bush cuts permanent - accompanied by cuts in Social Security beneifts that he assured Congress in 2001 would not be threatened by the cuts.

The most incendiary comment in the book was clearly Greenspan's conclusion that the Iraq War II was all about oil. However, Greenspan is now 'clarifying' his statement to Greenspan having told the White House that removing Saddam was 'essential' to secure world oil supplies, and now stating (Washington Post interview, 9/17/07) that securing global oil supplies was 'not the administration's motive.' Greenspan was initially elated when Bush II won, and brought in his old friends Cheney and Rumsfeld. However, he noted that 'they changed,' and that he did not agree with Cheney's 'deficit's don't matter.' There also seemed to be little value placed on rigorous economic policy debate or weighing long-term policy consequences - policy-making was firmly in the hands of White House staff (Rove, et al).

A result was that Bush II's first two Treasury Secretaries (O-Neill, Snow) were essentially powerless. Summarizing, Greenspan saw the Republicans in '04 as having swapped principle for power, ending up with neither, and deserving to lose in '06. The 'good news' was that they did not try to interfere with monetary policy. Greenspan has come under increasing criticism himself for the current housing collapse and preceding bubble. His defense, in 'The Age of Turbulence,' was that the risk of broadening home ownership was worth the risk, that he didn't realize shady practices had grown so prevalent, and had tried raising mortgage rates in '04 and '05 by hiking rates on ten-year Federal notes (no impact). Finally, looking to the future, Greenspan sees a need to raise taxes on energy to encourage conservation, and a risk of increased inflation - already prices are rising in China. As for ethanol, even if all U.S. corn was converted to ethanol, it would only provide less than 20% of our current oil usage!!!

Chalk full of interesting revelations.
Although there seems to be much controversy aimed at Mr. Greenspan, due to the current state of the US financial crisis, I found this book quite fascinating. Not only did it present a very interesting and complete presentation of Mr. Greenspan's life, it also shed much light on his tenure with several different US Administrations. Although the commentary is brief, he also includes some very interesting revelations regarding the Clinton Administration and the past Bush Administration.

If you have an interest in finding out more about the US Federal Reserve, and its unique relationship in Washington, this book is a must read.

A Broad View on the Economy
When I started listening to the CD version of "Age of Turbulence" I expected to learn some incredible things from one of the legendary great economic minds of all times. Instead, I came away with a less than inspiring message about how to survive in the free-market system by anticipating and responding to market downturns before they happen. A lot of Mr. Greenspan's book deals with his less than exciting business of forecasting market trends and setting fiscal guidelines before moving on to advise five different American presidents. But where is the heart and soul of the man when it comes to considering the risks facing the little guy in his struggle to survive the uncertainties of modern capitalism? Be under no illusion when reading or listening to this book: Greenspan's compassion for the individual investor starts and stops with telling the reader that the financial world rewards risk takers who know when to get in and when to get out. Greenspan gained a lot of experience in number crunching before he even entered the ranks of government in the 70s with the Ford administration. To that end, studying statistical data, as regards market trends, allowed the likes of Greenspan to identify where the action is at in the equities and commodities. Greenspan, based on his early contacts with Ayn Rand in the 50s, became a disciple of ojectivism, which encouraged him to seek a bigger perspective on how the economy related to other aspects of society such as politics and culture. Even with all these measures of success going for him, Greenspan's record of performance is not perfect. He admits in the book that during the early days of George W. Bush, the Fed got caught short on not predicting the serious deficit problems resulting from the Dot.com fiasco. While never seeing himself as a forecaster, Greenspan would like to be known as one who considers domestic and international trends and offers the best policy for implementing growth. Such a rationalization is offered in the hope that the reader might consider him as simply an amoral gatekeeper who allows the economy to run responsibly according to its own intiatives. If it takes low interest rates to create that climate, so be it as long as people - including the little guy - recognizes that what goes up must invariably come down. With this in mind, the financial order of things should continue apace over the next couple of decades if it can overcome the very real threat of hyperinflation and get a lid on the debt problem. Other than that, Greenspan sees, as his god, the power of the market to reward those who do their homework and don't become excessive in their demands. Overall, a clever but dull read with some pearls of wisdom scattered throughout the piece for those looking for ways to handle contrary markets.