The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan.
Half memoir, half economic overview, this book is good.
Mr Greenspan has had quite the life. He was friends with Ayn Ran. He was a professional musician. He dated Barber Walters.
He also is an unapologetic lassie faire capitalist and he makes a very good argument for it. I am now less ambivalent about lassie faire capitalism than I once was.
I have to admit that capitalism works for me and I take full advantage of it. I work hard and I take what I think are smart business risks. My ambivalence stems from capitalism's more ruthless side-- in a meritocracy not everyone will have merit. The market prices for necessities may be above what some people earn. What do you do with those people?
The response to that is essentially "Your concern is valid, but not as bad as you'd think. You don't have to work that hard to earn enough for room and board. Other types of economies and governments have not solved that problem either. Finally, capitalism is responsible for most of today's prosperity. Not socialism. Not capitalism with a socialist safety net. And certainly not Communism."
Agree with him or not, he is certainly a smart man.
