It’s often advised that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. It’s also advised not to speak ill of the dead. I’ll ignore both of these in the special occasion of the deaths of Alan Greenspan and Lee Raymond.
Greenspan was the long time chair of the federal reserve and presided, more ignominiously, during the Bush Administration. Both Bushes I suppose, but mostly the younger Bush.
Bush started his administration with the biggest tax cuts in US history, all for big corporations and the wealthy. Then came 9/11 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And Katrina. All of this was paid for by debt, papered over by low interest rates, supplied by Mr Greenspan. This only delayed the inevitable by blowing a massive real estate bubble.
Once Republicans were shown the door by voters in 2008 the plug was pulled and a very predictable crash in the housing market, banking and eventually other financial markets followed. This has become known as The Great Recession. This was predicted as early as 2001 and flags raised by observers across the spectrum, including Congressman Ron Paul, a fellow follower of crank economist / philosopher Ayn Rand.
By the time the bill came due, Greenspan had quietly retired. The ensuing cleanup was mostly a gift to the banking industry with ordinary Americans left paying the price. The subsequent bad economy also served to hamstring the recently elected Democrats, including Barak Obama, from doing, well, just about anything.
I also heard the former head of Exxon, Lee Raymond, also passed away. During his tenure his company profited massively from Bush’s wars in the Middle East. He was also a champion denier of climate change. The world is an increasingly warmer place, with more erratic weather, because of Dr Lee Raymond. In the long run his destructive influence may even rival that of Alan Greenspan.
Steven A. Guccione 