Volatility and Turbulence
February 18, 2008
On this Presidents' Day holiday it might be wise to remember the two presidents whose birthdays are being celebrated, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. If you think that we are now living in a time of volatility and turbulence, think of the issues which were faced by these two great leaders.
George Washington participated in the American Revolution, the continental congress and thirteen years after the Declaration of Independence, in 1789, he became the first president of the newly formed United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln faced the issue of slavery, the secession of the confederate states, and a bloody civil war. How turbulent were the 1860s?
I have been reading Alan Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence, which is subtitled, Adventures in a New World. In it Greenspan recollects his background in economic issues and his more than eighteen years as chairman of the Federal Reserve. During his chairmanship the country experienced several recessions plus a constant threat of inflation. Just as the financial world is worrying about a possible recession or whether tweaking the monetary policy will hasten a round of inflation, Greenspan, in the 1980s and 1990s, faced many of these same dilemmas. Probably the subtitle of his book says even more about the times, as globalization and the information revolution effect our national economy.
However, Greenspan seemed always to be fundamentally an optomist. The stock market, the housing market and the banks and savings and loans went through serious downturns, but in the past, they did recover. When "irrational exuberance" influences market decisions, a day of reckoning seems inevitably to come. Compared to a revolution and a civil war, we are certainly not in the worst of times.
On this Presidents' Day holiday it might be wise to remember the two presidents whose birthdays are being celebrated, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. If you think that we are now living in a time of volatility and turbulence, think of the issues which were faced by these two great leaders.
George Washington participated in the American Revolution, the continental congress and thirteen years after the Declaration of Independence, in 1789, he became the first president of the newly formed United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln faced the issue of slavery, the secession of the confederate states, and a bloody civil war. How turbulent were the 1860s?
I have been reading Alan Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence, which is subtitled, Adventures in a New World. In it Greenspan recollects his background in economic issues and his more than eighteen years as chairman of the Federal Reserve. During his chairmanship the country experienced several recessions plus a constant threat of inflation. Just as the financial world is worrying about a possible recession or whether tweaking the monetary policy will hasten a round of inflation, Greenspan, in the 1980s and 1990s, faced many of these same dilemmas. Probably the subtitle of his book says even more about the times, as globalization and the information revolution effect our national economy.
However, Greenspan seemed always to be fundamentally an optomist. The stock market, the housing market and the banks and savings and loans went through serious downturns, but in the past, they did recover. When "irrational exuberance" influences market decisions, a day of reckoning seems inevitably to come. Compared to a revolution and a civil war, we are certainly not in the worst of times.
posted by shirley harry at 9:26 AM
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