Alan Greenspan, a titan of American finance who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, has died at 100. A staunch defender of free-market principles, Greenspan rose from a background as a jazz musician to become one of the most powerful figures in global economics.
Influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand, he spent his career championing the idea that society functions best when individuals pursue their own self-interests, famously labeling the welfare state a mechanism for confiscating the wealth of the productive.
During his tenure, he presided over the longest period of sustained economic growth in a generation, earning him a reputation as a financial guru. However, his legacy remains a subject of intense debate.
While supporters credit him with navigating the 1987 stock market crash and fostering a golden era of prosperity, critics point to the dot-com bubble and the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis as failures of his low-interest-rate policies and his reliance on the financial industry to self-regulate.
In his later years, Greenspan admitted to finding a 'flaw' in his free-market ideology regarding the banking sector's self-regulation. Despite his later criticisms of populist movements and Brexit, Greenspan remained a fixture in economic discourse until his final years, leaving an indelible mark on the American financial landscape.
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