Alan Greenspan, Jewish economist, longtime head of Federal Reserve, dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, who led the U.S. economy as Federal Reserve chairman for nearly two decades, has died at the age of 100. Greenspan passed away at his home due to complications from Parkinson's Disease, according to NBC News, citing his wife, Andrea Mitchell.

During his tenure from August 1987 to January 2006, Greenspan presided over the second-longest economic expansion in U.S. history, a decade of growth from March 1991 to March 2001. His decision to maintain low interest rates, despite inflation concerns, fostered significant prosperity and earned him the nickname "maestro." His judgment regarding a mid-1990s productivity surge, which he believed would curb inflation, is still cited by policymakers like current Fed chair Jerome Powell as an example of insightful economic intuition.

However, Greenspan's legacy is complex. While lauded during his time at the Fed, his policies later faced scrutiny for allegedly fueling asset price bubbles and contributing to the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Stephen Oliner, a former senior Fed official, suggested that the extreme praise Greenspan received before the crisis and the harsh criticism afterward were both perhaps disproportionate.

Greenspan's career also included a decisive response to the 1987 stock market crash, just months after he took office. He guided the U.S. economy through the 1990-91 recession, the Asian and Russian financial crises of 1997-1998, the dot-com bubble's collapse in 2000, and the economic uncertainty following the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was known as a formidable Washington power player, adept at influencing decisions by presidents and cabinet secretaries.

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I think the deification that came just before the financial crisis was never really deserved, and I think the lambasting that he took after he left was never fully deserved either.