Suddenly it seems fashionable to blame Greenspan for all ills of the nation. It seems like yet another instance of the modern American pandemic of Blame Someone Else For My Troubles. Greenspan was NOT a President, Leader of Congress etc. He was just a Central Banker. His job description, to put it simply, is to ensure that people continue to believe that little green pieces of paper are valuable. In that he succeeded very well between 1986-2006 or so. No body asked his permission before waging wars, declaring tax cuts etc., He is not a financial adviser for anybody.
1. He is not responsible for Congress and President passing budgets with deficits
2. He is not responsible for causing trade deficits.
3. He is not responsible for people borrowing beyond their ability to pay.
4. He is not responsible for people speculating in assets and losing.
etc., etc.,
His main achievement is, even though there were major financial shocks, even though people engaged in bad behaviour like 1..4, he convinced most people to believe that the little pieces of green paper are worth hanging on to. Nobody used the phrase “American Peso” to describe U.S. $.
