At last; a book about Alan Greenspan's fraud on the US

Greenspan's Fraud : How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the Global Economy
by Ravi Batra

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1987, Alan Greenspan was appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Batra had a bestseller predicting a depression deeper than the Great Depression, lasting from 1990 to 1996. Batra's second book, two years later, predicting the crash of 1990 did less well, and his books predicting disaster in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 found fewer readers, lucid as they were. Batra did correctly predict a stock market downturn in 2000, but erred by blaming the Y2K computer bug and forecasting high inflation and deep, long lasting negative growth. Now Batra has switched from predicting the future to criticizing the past. Readers expecting sensational charges will be disappointed. "This is not fraud in the legal sense," the author reassures us. Instead, Greenspan has "seriously afflicted the finances of millions of families." Batra faults Greenspan's views on social security, minimum wage, taxes and the trade deficit. As always, his economic arguments are expressed elegantly. Missing is a direct link to Greenspan, who had only a peripheral advisory role in these issues (his job is setting interest rates, financial policy and bank regulation) and voices only highly modulated views when he does give opinions. The misplaced focus weakens the sound economic arguments, and the title is sensationalized at best. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. (May 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

It is hard to decide who has the bigger ego, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan or prolific author and professor Batra, who has written, among other books, The Great Depression of 1990 (1987). Batra takes great glee in demonstrating, step by step, how Greenspan has committed all kinds of fraud, starting with Social Security on through the trade deficit. When it comes to Social Security, the author claims, Greenspan has been operating a three-part ploy: raise an alarm about the deficit, ask workers for yet more sacrifices, then spend the extra monies on various government programs. Laissez-faire reigns supreme; the principle of an economy untouched by government holds sway. What's more, Batra includes charts detailing events pivotal to the chairman's fraud. His statistics are impressive, such as the fact that the bottom 20 percent of the country (or 56 million people) live on 3.6 percent of the national income. So are his visions of an economic democracy, including stability, fair and efficient treatment, and a far better standard of living for all; however, Batra's emotional presentation lessens his book's effectiveness. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


What does Greenspan have to show for his 20 years?, June 8, 2005
Reviewer: Aaron Fields (Kent County, Michigan)
More benefits to business cronyism and libertarian destruction of America. The media has always made it look as if Greenspan has and is always the economy's best savior even when it's never so. Maybe Greenspan could take some time off and visit hard hit areas such as my state of Michigan where his libertarian leaning policies or endorsement of them have turned my state into a nearly irreversable rust belt state like many other. Ravi Batra has the courage and confidence to break a window in Greenspan's fraud and you can expect that neoconservatives and libertarians along with their media cronies will be desperate in their criticism of this book at all costs. Read this book and flick Greenspan OFF !

Greenspan Exposed as a Flip-Flopper!, June 7, 2005
Reviewer: Loyd Eskildson (Phoenix, AZ.)

Greenspan was not Wall Street's first choice in 1987 when the Federal Reserve Chairman's position became vacant - Paul Volcker was. Volcker had a reputation for having previously tamed inflation - however, "inflation-tamers" are usually not popular with politicians (high interest rates and tight money slow the economy), and Reagan instead picked Greenspan.

Greenspan had chaired a committee on Social Security reform in 1983, which raised the tax S.S. tax base. One of that group's recommendations was to keep S.S. cash surpluses separate from the General Fund. Greenspan, however, later supported combining them for eight more years. Greenspan then later also supported cutting S.S. benefits to help "cover the ballooning Federal deficit" - despite there being no connection, thus becoming the basis for the author's accusation of fraud.

After Bush I became President, Greenspan then supported a tax cut. Thus, his position had become favoring both income tax cuts (favoring the wealthy) and S.S. cuts (hurting mostly the low-income). Meanwhile, the "no lock-box" approach to S.S. funds continued without Greenspan's opposition.

Greenspan then went on to publicly worry about "irrational exhuberance" in 1996 - evidenced by rapidly rising stock prices - but then did nothing to slow the rise. (Another flip-flop.)

When Bush II arrived, Greenspan supported large tax cuts on the basis of forecasted massive surpluses. Unfortunately, those surpluses never occured, and instead massive deficits have ensued.

Another Major Flip-Flop: The trade deficit caused Greenspan to express worry when it was much smaller than now, and then to declare it was "not a problem" in '03. Meanwhile, American manufacturing has been largely devasted, and many who have not lost their jobs have lost pension and/or healthcare benefits, and the latest data even show a decline in inflation-adjusted incomes.

Batra also points out that Greenspan has seemingly taken the risk out of business borrowing by bailing out those caught in the Mexican devaluation, Asian, Russian Capital Management, etc. crises. Meanwhile, the U.S. "housing bubble" steadily builds up, and Greenspan has taken both sides ("no worry;" "yes, it's a problem in some areas") of that issue as well.

Finally, Batra asserts that income inequality has reached its highest level since '29, despite income equality being strongly related to real economic growth.

An interesting read - unfortunately, as of yet there is no happy ending. Hopefully enough people will read this book to bring about change.


A Tutorial in Economic History, June 6, 2005
Reviewer: older observer (Nova Caesaria USA)
Ravi Batra is a Professor of Economics at SMU Dallas TX. This very readable book is partly about Greenspan's career in government, and politics, but mostly about the economic policies of the last three decades. Batra explains how the Federal Reserve has impoverished most Americans to enrich the wealthy, and attacked the middle class to benefit Big Business.

Chapter 1 tells the real impact of Alan Greenspan, how he unwittingly effected a global crash and spread economic misery (p.5). Greenspan's frauds swindled millions of families (p.6), while he benefited from his tax policies. Chapter 2, one of the most important, explains the fraud that was used to raise Social Security taxes in 1983 and then squander this money on tax cuts for the wealthy (p.12)! Greenspan's fraud was that he helped to raise payroll taxes, then sought to lower Social Security benefits (p.36). Chapter 3 discusses Greenspan's worship of "free profits" (p.48). Adam Smith was against mergers of competitors, and government regulation to restrict competition (p.50). The fallacy of Classical Economics is they could not account for depressions of falling output and rising unemployment (p.60). Batra explains the fallacy of "Supply Side Economics" (pp.68-70). Chapter 4 explains "Greenspan's Intellectual Fraud" (p.74) as deceiving an audience by using fake or selective data for monetary gain. Greenspan saved the country from a Reagan Depression in 1987 by flooding the markets with liquidity (p.91). Afterwards he raised interest rates to regain this money and prevent inflation (p.92). Chapter 5 reports the global effects of Greenspan's policies. The 1981 tax cut led to soaring interest rates and a steep recession (p.123). Cutting the interest rate resulted in higher stock prices (p.136). The bubble of speculation inevitably burst (p.139).

Chapter 6 notes that economic theories can't explain the causes of a stock market bubble (p.141)! Batra says it is a mismatch between supply (productivity) and demand (wages and debt). When wages are high from productivity there is prosperity without a crash (p.143). Stagnant or falling wages create unemployment (p.146). Expansionary fiscal policies create a debt that comes due (pp.147-148). Regressive taxation and low wages create a global crisis. Chapter 7 explains how the income tax rate affects our standard of living. Reagan's tax cuts created a giant budget deficit and high interest rates (p.169). Clinton's raised income tax rates was followed by relative prosperity. Bush lowered the top income tax rate, which always hurts the economy and stunts economic growth (p.173). Chapter 8 documents another of Greenspan's frauds, the claim that minimum wages create unemployment. This lie has been proven wrong since 1935. Greenspan wants increased immigration to keep wages down (p.191)! High money growth causes inflation (p.192).

Chapter 9 discusses the trade deficit, which could cause the budget deficit (p.199). A country that exports goods has a trade surplus, one that exports services or farm products has deficits (p.204). Prosperity comes from manufacturing (p.205). Regressive taxation has forced a gap between wages and productivity (p.214). A regressive value-added tax makes it worse. The merger mania results from a lack of competition and the desire for monopoly control of output. Chapter 10 tells how Greenspan's policies changed but still aimed at the economic destruction of the middle class (p.217). Most Americans have seen a drop in their living standards since 1973 (p.219). Regressive taxes, higher health insurance, and lowered pensions make it worse (p.220). The effect is rising bankruptcies, mushrooming debt, and a drastic decline in the household savings rate (p.221). Countries with ultra-regressive taxes like VAT (value-added taxes) experience the same slow growth and higher unemployment (p.229).

Chapter 11 lists the needed economic reforms. Batra lists the top-ten problems that need fixing (p.236). Returning Social Security to a pay-as-you-go system will benefit the economy (p.240). An ethical economic policy benefits all of us, an unethical economic policy creates massive debt and increasing poverty (pp.244-245). Batra lists 6 reforms for wages and taxes to bring back prosperity (p.247). A separate export exchange rate will benefit manufacturing (p.251). Reducing the wage gap will reduce recessions, inflation, and poverty (p.253). The long-run cure for economic imbalance is economic democracy (p.255). [But his proposals seem to idealistic, and lack the checks and balances needed in the real world.]

Batra does not mention that these regressive policies came about after Nixon's devaluation of the US dollar in 1971.]

There's more to Greenspan than you see in the media !, June 6, 2005
Reviewer: Jamerson Ashford (Lewistown, Montana)
For all the years that Greenspan has enjoyed his power and riches, not to mention his wife Andrea Mitchell being a political analyst on MSNBC and a speechwriter for Bush, not once has Greenspan ever addressed rural America, much of which has even undergone DEPOPULATION as a result of Greenspan's influence along with the politicians ! Sure, we've had terrible feds of the chairman in the past but at least they were honest and not unrealistic. Unlike some politically conservative reviewers who are scared and thus trying to smear the author, I have news for everyone in rural America who either doesn't know Alan Greenspan or who has been brainwashed into worshipping him as the savior of the economy by the economic libertarians up in D.C., be it Wall Street, the righwing thinktanks, or even our disgraceful politicians in both political parties that have caved in to special corporate interests. If it were not for the once sturdy rural areas full of small businesses, mom and pop stores, and the like, big business and Wall Street would never be enjoying the unlimited power with Greenspan as one of its puppets. Greenspan knows what he has been and still is doing and he knows that it's wrong even though he'll try to pretend he's confused by making wishy washy statements one day this or another day that about the economy. Read this book and learn to mistrust anything Greenspan says and help America tear down the corrupt business wall that has ruined this country and is currently trying to ruin other countries in the process !

Greenspan never made sense but this book about him does !, May 31, 2005
Reviewer: Barbara McGurk (Richmond, Virginia)
One day Greenspan says this, the next day he says that. Looking at him on the TV set and in the WSJ, you'd almost think that Greenspan is lost like Goldilocks was in fable "Goldilocks and the 3 bears". But this book clearly proves that Greenspan is not only not lost, he too is going along with the rightwing conspiracy of destroying the working class through deception followed by mugging. Take Social Security for example. Back in the early 1980s, Greenspan made it look like taxes would have to be increased on Social Security followed by benefit cuts just to keep it solvent. Turns out all he was doing was acting as Ronald Reagan's puppet. Here's another example. Let's take Clinton and free trade as an example. Greenspan was always and still is a major cheerleader of the so-called free markets making it look like globalization will contribute to long term economic growth when in fact it has and continues to do the exact opposite. Better yet, let's take taxes as an example. Back when Bush Sr. and Clinton were presidents in the 1990s, Greenspan approved of raising taxes though in reality the rich got away with all the tax loopholes with Greenspan and Wall Street and big business cheering. And now for the past 4 years, Greenspan changes positions on tax cuts for the wealthy vs. paying down the debt. But once again, as this book will clearly show, Greenspan is no Goldilocks who is lost. He's the perfect Goldilocks who should have pooridge poured all over him with egg batter for being a weasel of a chairman of the federal reserve. I wouldn't be surprised to see negative reviewers trembling in fear that their days of allowing the vast rightwing economic conspiracy are about to come to an end as more people are ready to wake up and take back our economic safety nets, our economic democracy, and return this nation to fair trade, wages, and labor !

Know the abusive power of Chairman of the Federal Reserve, May 30, 2005
Reviewer: Wilfred Hunter (Lander, Wyoming)
Think conservatives got rid of big government? Think again. Reagan's installment of Allen Greenspan has only made predatory and financial mugging by big business even more deadly than even the worst of any mafia gang in NYC ! And there's no question that no matter who was president, even Bill Clinton who triangulated and went by the neoconservative polls, Greenspan only made matters truly worse or we wouldn't have to pay for the business scandals sins that Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others have destroyed honest working class Americans with. Yes, we may not have had good fed chairs before Greenspan but at least they were honest. Mr. Greenspan, it's time to hold you accountable even if your favorite big business cronies, the media, and the politicians of both pathetic parties have been protecting you for the past 20 years. Ravi Batra, you're the best economic sheriff when it comes to cracking down on the leader who allowed business scandals to go unabated and still does !