Friday, February 13, 2009
Prescient Op-Ed from 2000 by Ralph Nader on Alan Greenspan
From: http://sootandashes.blogspot.com
February 13, 2009
When the real story is told, one of the most important chapters will be how Ayn Rand, via Alan Greenspan, took over the American financial system And then brought about its collapse.
I give you in its entirety an important and amazingly prescient Op-Ed from 2000 by Ralph Nader on Alan Greenspan, his association with Ayn Rand, and the destruction of the American financial regulatory apparatus.
Which as we know now destroyed the American financial system, and led to one of the biggest financial collapses in world history.
Greenspan Shrugged: The Reserve Chair's Philosophy Differs Little From His Ayn Rand Days
by Ralph Nader
Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 in the San Francisco Bay Guardian
Last year Congress made Federal Reserve Board chair Alan Greenspan a virtual regulatory czar over financial services corporations. Considering the waves of adulation that have been sweeping over Greenspan, the anointment was not a surprise.
It would be reasonable to assume that before placing this important regulatory power under the Federal Reserve, Congress undertook a careful review of Greenspan's regulatory philosophy and record. You can toss that assumption in the nearest trash can.
Congress knows little and cares less about how Greenspan views the government's role in protecting the public interest and the public purse. The same is true for the three presidents -- Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and William Clinton -- who have appointed and reappointed Greenspan to four terms as chair of the Federal Reserve.
A causal observer of Senate confirmation hearings would be led to believe that financial regulation has nothing to do with the job of Federal Reserve chair. The issue never comes up. It is the rarest of occurrences when a congressional oversight hearing places a Federal Reserve official in the dock over financial regulatory shortcomings.
Yet Congress, with only half-hearted opposition from the Clinton administration's Treasury Department, handed Greenspan and the Federal Reserve the regulatory plums when it authorized the merger of banks, securities firms, and insurance companies under common ownership in giant conglomerates. The safety and soundness of the nation's financial system will rest heavily on how vigorously the Federal Reserve carries out its responsibility.
For longtime watchers of Greenspan the move was incongruous, if not outright risky. As a disciple of Ayn Rand, later as an economic guru for the Republican Party, and still later as a lobbyist for financial corporations, Greenspan has disagreed with regulation as a tool to protect consumers and the well-being of a free enterprise economy. Greenspan has argued that the self-interest of the corporations – the desire of corporations to protect their reputation – was all that was necessary for consumer protection.
In an article published in 1963 as part of Ayn Rand's book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Greenspan declared that protection of the consumer against "dishonest and unscrupulous business was the cardinal ingredient of welfare statism."
"Regulation which is based on force and fear undermines the moral base of business dealings," he wrote. "Protection of the consumer by regulation ... is illusory."
Some may well argue that these diatribes against regulation were part of a passing phase in Greenspan's career. Perhaps, but this philosophy was alive and well when Greenspan, as a consultant-lobbyist, badgered federal regulators. In one case, Greenspan intervened directly with the principal regulator of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings in an attempt to gain special exemptions from regulations for the institution. Risky investments ultimately brought Lincoln Savings down, sent Keating to jail, and cost the taxpayers $2.5 billion. Greenspan became chair of the Federal Reserve.
Greenspan's antiregulation philosophy continues to crop up at the Federal Reserve. Not only has the General Accounting Office raised questions about the efficacy of the Federal Reserve's regulation of bank holding companies, but Greenspan has erected roadblocks to the collection of data important to consumer protection and fair lending as well.
In 1996 Greenspan was urged to help in the enforcement of fair lending laws by collecting data on the race and gender of applicants for small business and consumer loans. Despite pleas from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, Greenspan and his fellow governors blocked the proposal.
This year Greenspan decided to end the collection of nationwide data on bank fees. The survey, which was authorized as part of the financial reforms adopted in 1989, has proven an excellent tool that consumer groups have used to highlight and battle the excessive fees that banks impose on consumers.
Similarly, the Federal Reserve is dropping its "Functional Cost Analysis" study, which has provided important data on how much it costs banks to provide services. This has been a great tool for measuring the validity of bank charges. Credit unions, particularly, have made good use of this data to dramatize fee and interest rate gouging by banks.
But if we believe the words of Greenspan during his Ayn Rand period, he probably doesn't see any need for such data, much less regulation.
And if anyone complains about the loss of such consumer and fair-lending information, Greenspan could send them this excerpt from his writings with Ayn Rand: "Government regulation is not an alternative means of protecting the consumer. It does not build quality into goods, or accuracy into information. Its sole contribution is to substitute force and fear for incentive as the 'protector' of the consumer. The euphemisms of government press releases to the contrary notwithstanding, the basis of regulation is armed force. At the bottom of the endless pile of paper work which characterizes all regulation lies a gun."
And this is the Alan Greenspan who Congress believes should protect the public interest in the regulation of the new financial conglomerates?
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview (1/3)
Comments:
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Ooh! That's one of the scariest videos I've ever seen. There are people for whom I've had great affection who talk reverently about Rand and her works. I never pursued her philosophy (like reading her books) because what they said after that made me kind of jittery
Like her eyes in this vid. Ouch! I've seen that phenomenon before, principally on the faces of good friends in the days before I lost them to suicide or institutionalization. O loss!
Can't believe I've had other friends who buy this crap.
Hitler without the little mustache.
Like her eyes in this vid. Ouch! I've seen that phenomenon before, principally on the faces of good friends in the days before I lost them to suicide or institutionalization. O loss!
Can't believe I've had other friends who buy this crap.
Hitler without the little mustache.
Haven't seen le vid yet...I can only imagine for now...I know her ideas are controversial...that's about it...
Recently, I went on some sites and defended some dumb ass posts about Ralph...OpenLeft.com and Democrats.com...You can imagine how welcome I felt there.. *hee hee*
Happy LOVE day to you and treebu..
-Alice
I just love love... :)
Recently, I went on some sites and defended some dumb ass posts about Ralph...OpenLeft.com and Democrats.com...You can imagine how welcome I felt there.. *hee hee*
Happy LOVE day to you and treebu..
-Alice
I just love love... :)
"Happy LOVE day to you and treebu"
Thanks Alice! Likewise to you and Pierce.
Isn't this cool? It's a whole Love Three-Day Weekend.
And - like ever day with T, it's been explosively blissful.
We're pausing to go out and feed ourselves now.
Maybe you heard this when it was on. Amazing.
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/24/alan_greenspan_vs_naomi_klein_on
Thanks Alice! Likewise to you and Pierce.
Isn't this cool? It's a whole Love Three-Day Weekend.
And - like ever day with T, it's been explosively blissful.
We're pausing to go out and feed ourselves now.
Maybe you heard this when it was on. Amazing.
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/24/alan_greenspan_vs_naomi_klein_on
Thanks... :)
I'm not a huge fan of holidays...any of them...but I can't go wrong with a day about Love I guess...
I appreciate your email about my day of wo s....It was relaxing to read about your kitty on your lap...once in a great while I wish I had only one cat..then I realize it's not my lot in life to care for only one... It's sure getting expensive though...
The snow started up again and the "big storm" that kept me from my family and derby practice is pretty heavy today...the bookdrop will be filled to the tim I imagine tomorrow when I get to work...the holidays really set us back work-wise.
We went out to dinner after derby last night to a new mexican place...unfortunately we saw the three strays that live behind the restaurant..one dashing towards the highway...fucking breaks my heart...
I am looking at Seder's blog now and see that nora and ghettodefender are the last two critical thinkers...and dada when he posts...I am happier now that I changed the focus of my own blog...upwards and onwards...wallowing in global and domestic political events is a silent killer, imo...I don't want to leave this life drained and defeated...I want to grow and expand and bring good things back to my spirit family.. :)
I'm going to invest in those spider things for tires, as my lesson in putting chains on let me know that if I had to do it alone in a snow storm on a road..I would basically die in that spot.. :)
Have a happy days lovers...
-Alice
I remember that DN..I was surprised Greenspan would do it...
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I'm not a huge fan of holidays...any of them...but I can't go wrong with a day about Love I guess...
I appreciate your email about my day of wo s....It was relaxing to read about your kitty on your lap...once in a great while I wish I had only one cat..then I realize it's not my lot in life to care for only one... It's sure getting expensive though...
The snow started up again and the "big storm" that kept me from my family and derby practice is pretty heavy today...the bookdrop will be filled to the tim I imagine tomorrow when I get to work...the holidays really set us back work-wise.
We went out to dinner after derby last night to a new mexican place...unfortunately we saw the three strays that live behind the restaurant..one dashing towards the highway...fucking breaks my heart...
I am looking at Seder's blog now and see that nora and ghettodefender are the last two critical thinkers...and dada when he posts...I am happier now that I changed the focus of my own blog...upwards and onwards...wallowing in global and domestic political events is a silent killer, imo...I don't want to leave this life drained and defeated...I want to grow and expand and bring good things back to my spirit family.. :)
I'm going to invest in those spider things for tires, as my lesson in putting chains on let me know that if I had to do it alone in a snow storm on a road..I would basically die in that spot.. :)
Have a happy days lovers...
-Alice
I remember that DN..I was surprised Greenspan would do it...
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