Federal Reservations

Jesse Walker | January 30, 2006

The Baltimore Sun's most libertarian columnist, Jay Hancock, reviews Alan Greenspan's career at the Fed, arguing the erstwhile Randite "became what he once would have despised: a central economic planner, a government employee who thinks he's smarter than the markets, a price-fixer."

After summarizing the potential hazards of Greenspan's decisions, Hancock defers judgment:

Economic history often takes even longer to sort out than political history, and serious questions about the Greenspan legacy and the paper-currency standard increase the need to postpone judgment....

But I do know that central economic planners tend to mess up. I know that economies are like ecological systems: Intervention that seems to generate great results at first often comes back and bites you on the behind. The unintended consequences of the Greenspan years should be interesting.