"Maestro" perhaps, master of fraud, certainly

A "maestro," among other things, is a master of any art, an expert, a wizard. (Concise Oxford English Dictionary). Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had worn that title, untarnished, until recently. It had always seemed like an inflated euphemism to some because Greenspan's policies as Federal Reserve chairman appeared to largely serve the gambling elements of Wall Street while it's more conservative elements stood by muted. But that was then. In today's "Sputtering" U. S. economy the very one that was "fine-tuned" for twenty years by "master mechanic" Greenspan, better to rethink the generous appellation "maestro." "Bubblemeister" comes to mind.

In Greenspan’s Fraud by professor Ravi Batra, Alan Greenspan is described as having experienced a formal, undergraduate education in economics but certainly "had minimal banking experience and was not a trained economist." Batra, among others in both the financial and academic world now put much of the blame for the economic bubble of 1999 on Greenspan and his "loose money policies" at the Federal Reserve (The Fed).

"The bubble in 1999 wiped out $7 trillion of wealth. Nearly 2 million lucrative jobs have vanished since 2000. The United States borrows $2 billion/day to stay afloat. Foreigners subsidize consumer credit by loaning $600 billion/year."

Currently, "The Maestro" is being tagged "Mr. Bubble" and is taking much of the blame for the U.S. real estate collapse and the severe weakening of the mortgage industry, mostly hurting the lower middle classes hopeful of maintaining home ownership or of some day purchasing a home. (Home ownership is historically the key strategy of most Americans of building financial equity and future security.)

In his defense, Greenspan claims it's better to experience the "periodic blowups" (euphemism) which characterize free markets than to regulate them strictly. Greenspan makes no mention of using even moderate regulatory powers over the mortgage industry. Congress gave the Fed authority to curb excesses and abuses in the mortgage lending sector (Thomas S. Mulligan) which the Bubblemeister chose to ignore based upon his belief that "markets correct their own problems." The counter posed question: Why not let markets correct their own problems in a prudent "prime rate" environment? Answer: You pick and choose your strategies based upon your philosophy and personal ambition. This is the measure of a fraud artist, call it "maestro" if you will. Alan Greenspan was an early devotee of libertarian ideologue Ayn Rand who espoused an extreme form of rational selfishness in her fictional works.

Whom do you think "rational selfishness" serves better regarding the "masterful" concerting of the Prime Rate of Interest, the casino players on Wall Street, or lower middle class folks who, in their own misery, tried to jump on the "sub prime" bus after it had left the station? Greenspan has lately endorsed the use of taxpayer dollars to help ease the mortgage debacle. More "rational selfishness." Like the early 1990s, the tax payer will bail out an unfettered "free market" system that would have collapsed of its own weight. No dividend or capital gain for the tax payer, plenty of upside for the investor. It is plainly evident to all interested observers that Capitalism sustains itself not a little through large doses of Socialist medicine.