Greenspan has fallen from grace, so why hasn't King?

Alan Greenspan was once hailed as an economic mastermind. But he was recently beaten up in Con-gress for his role in creating one of the greatest bubbles of all time. But his equivalents on this side of the Atlantic have escaped censure.

There are few sights quite so grimly fascinating as watching a once-stellar reputation come hurtling back down to earth. By the time he finally stepped down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan was hailed as an economic mastermind. He was paid millions for a book and even more for speaking engagements. The markets continued to hang on every word uttered by 'the maestro'.

Yet last week, Greenspan was beaten up in Congress and castigated for his role in creating what now looks like one of the greatest bubbles of all time. Far from being a genius, Greenspan is rapidly being recast as the man who allowed a slow-motion train crash to play out on his watch and did nothing to prevent it.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.