# Alan Greenspan has Died **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101 "2026-06-22T12:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/1 "2026-06-22T12:43:28Z")
> **[Alan Greenspan, economist and longtime head of the Federal Reserve, dies at 100](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/alan-greenspan-economist-longtime-head-federal-reserve-dies-100-rcna42286)** > > The influential economist died Monday from complications of Parkinson’s disease, said his wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell. > [@](#): > > Alan Greenspan, the influential economist who steered U.S. monetary policy during his five terms as chairman of the Federal Reserve under four presidents, died Monday, according to his wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell. > > He was 100. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/2 "2026-06-22T13:05:06Z")
But what does that mean for the markets??? Did he touch his nose just before he went? Or cough? What signals did he send??? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/3 "2026-06-22T13:06:14Z")
Blew up his reputation when he backed the Bush tax cuts. We had a small surplus and he talked about paying down the debt too quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/4 "2026-06-22T15:10:59Z")
NBC said he’s legendary; i think one can only be that after they’re dead. I thought he was more like a very conscientious and yet eloquent person. It’s hard to be both. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/5 "2026-06-22T15:18:13Z")
Yeah…he had a reputation as a financial genius but he made some very large mistakes and never admitted they were mistakes. Not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/6 "2026-06-22T15:20:18Z")
Definitely. And, during the aftermath of the Financial Crisis, he was one of the voices pushing for austerity and wringing his hands about inflation, even though he was totally wrong about that, too. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/7 "2026-06-22T15:22:00Z")
Agreed, the 2008 disaster falls on him heavily. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/8 "2026-06-22T16:46:56Z")
Good, fuck that guy > I don’t think there is any need for a law against fraud. > > - Alan Greenspan > **[Prophet and Loss](https://stanfordmag.org/contents/prophet-and-loss)** > > Brooksley Born warned that unchecked trading in the credit market could lead to disaster, but power brokers in Washington ignored her. Now we're all paying the price. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/9 "2026-06-22T20:12:37Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > he had a reputation as a financial genius Indeed, but there were a lot of financial crises during his reign despite the supposed ‘steady hand’. I don’t think he understood the markets better than anyone else. NOBODY understands the markets… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/10 "2026-06-22T23:19:47Z")
In the late 1990s, after Viagra was launched, he started a fund with $1,000,000 of his own money to pay for Viagra for men who might not be able to afford it. Okay, it’s his money, he can do what he wants with it, but really, IMNSHO he would have done more good by using that money for diabetes or prostate cancer education and treatment. The men I was working with at the time agreed with me. It wasn’t the easiest story to find, but find it I did. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/10/nyregion/1-million-gift-for-new-charity-case-the-viagra-needy.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/10/nyregion/1-million-gift-for-new-charity-case-the-viagra-needy.html) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/11 "2026-06-22T23:42:26Z")
I remember as a kid reading about how his solution to everything, in latter years, seemed to be to cut interest rates, and also how he’d reading lots of work-related stuff in his morning bath soak and have the papers all be soggy. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/12 "2026-06-23T02:19:39Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > he would have done more good by using that money for diabetes Counterpoint: > **[We Have All The Time In The World To Find A Cure For Diabetes](https://theonion.com/we-have-all-the-time-in-the-world-to-find-a-cure-for-di-1819583807/)** > > Did you know that diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.? Seventh. That’s really not that bad. Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s–now those are bad. But diabetes is not exactly a disease we need to race against the clock to cure. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/13 "2026-06-23T22:32:47Z")
That’s the Onion for you! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-greenspan-has-died/1031101/14 "2026-06-24T02:16:23Z")
He correctly called “irrational exuberance” but did jack shit about it. In fact, his response to each crisis was fiscal incontinence.