Denouement For The Maestro

Regular readers know my take on Alan Greenspan. With the Fed chief's retirement upon us, Barry Ritholtz weighs in with a few observations here. And it's appropriate that we got this news today, as reported by the AP:

Americans are spending everything they're making and more, pushing the national savings rate to the lowest point since the Great Depression.

Soaring home prices apparently have convinced people they don't have to worry about saving, a belief that could be seriously tested as 78 million baby boomers begin to retire.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that Americans' personal savings fell into negative territory at minus 0.5 percent last year. That means that people not only spent all of their after-tax income last year but had to dip into previous savings or increase their borrowing.

The savings rate has been negative for an entire year only twice before - in 1932 and 1933 - two years when Americans were having to deplete savings to cope with the massive job layoffs and business failures caused by the Great Depression.

Americans are saving less for many reasons. I believe the most important one is that Alan Greenspan's monetary policy has destroyed the incentive to save, and with it an important part of our national identity.

But perhaps the most pithy summary of Greenspan's tenure is this story, which alternatively I might have posted under the heading "For The Time Capsule." Reading it reminded me that in the early 1700's during the Mississippi Scheme, there was no higher honor for an artist in France than to paint John Law's portrait.

Plus ca change....