32 Quotes by Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He was known for his leadership during challenging economic times, including the 1987 stock market crash and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Greenspan was also known for his support of deregulation and his belief in free markets. His policies have been both praised and criticized, with some attributing the 2008 financial crisis to his loose monetary policy and lax regulation of the banking industry. (Bio)
Alan Greenspan Quotes
Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria. Bubbles go up very slowly as euphoria builds. (Meaning)
The number one problem in today's generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.
I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said.
When trust is lost, a nation's ability to transact business is palpably undermined.
To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills.
Amateurs want to be right. Professionals want to make money.
In general, corruption tends to exist whenever governments have favors to extend, or something to sell.
But rules cannot substitute for character.
The process of innovation is, of course, never ending.
Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the 'hidden' confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.
The arts develop skills and habits of mind that are important for workers in the new economy of ideas.
Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary.
Revolutions are something you see only in retrospect.
Since I've become a central banker, I've learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.
If you think you understand what I am saying you do not understand what I am saying.
Rules cannot take the place of character.
The gut-feel of the 55-year old trader is more important than the mathematical elegance of the 25-year old genius.
The more flexible an economy, the greater its ability to self-correct in response to inevitable, often unanticipated, disturbances and thus to contain the size and consequences of cyclical imbalances.
We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.
The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.
Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth.
Indeed, better risk management may be the only truly necessary element of success in banking.
History cannot be reduced to a set of statistics and probabilities.
If I've made myself clear, I've misspoken.
If all currencies are moving up or down together, the question is: relative to what? Gold is the canary in the coal mine. It signals problems with respect to currency markets. Central banks should pay attention to it.
You can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust.
I came to a stark realization: chronic surpluses could be almost as destabilizing as chronic deficits.
Excessive optimism sows the seeds of its own reversal.
Stripped of its academic jargon, the welfare state is nothing more than a mechanism by which governments confiscate the wealth of the productive members of a society to support a wide variety of welfare schemes.
[Republicans] swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.
Regulation - which is based on force and fear - undermines the moral base of business dealings. It becomes cheaper to bribe a building inspector than to meet his standards of construction. Protection of the consumer by regulation is thus illusory.
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. (Meaning)
― Alan Greenspan Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
