What people are saying
about
What Does Mr. Greenspan Really
Think?
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Dr.
Amelia Augustus, Ph.D., President |
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“The logical acuteness of Dr. Parks’ commentary on Chairman Alan Greenspan’s remarks at the Catholic University Leuvan, Belgium, January 14, 1997, results in the realization to ordinary taxpayers that fiat money is the greatest deception played on humanity since the first enslavement of fellow human beings. Further, even those who understand and acknowledge the hoax being played by Government must cloak the truth with complex words, lest they offend the power brokers (bankers).” Dominick Attanasio, former
President |
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Dr.
Robert J. Batemarco, Ph.D., |
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Larry Parks is like the small boy who points out the nudity of the king. In this masterful debunking of the Greenspan myth, Dr. Parks places the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve in a well deserved light; not as the savior of the capitalist system, but as one of its greatest enemies.” Dr.
Walter Block, Ph.D. |
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“The Federal Reserve System has a profound effect on our daily lives; yet not one in a million truly understands the implications of the Fed’s actions and of our monetary structure. This book brings together two people who do understand the system. Alan Greenspan is one such person but is constrained politically from speaking openly about it. Lawrence Parks is another such person who explains Mr. Greenspan’s sometimes cryptic and carefully worded remarks in plain English. This book is both a warning and an exposé. The warning is that history has taught us the inherent instability of fiat money. The exposé is of the shocking unfairness of the subsidies involved. Anyone who works for a living or saves for the future should read this book and understand those funny little things called ‘dollars.’” Lloyd
Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer |
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“Larry Parks is the shadow public prosecutor who has succeeded in
putting Alan Greenspan on the witness stand. The charge is that his Federal
Reserve System is not now, nor has it ever been, run in the interest of labor,
seniors, or other citizens and taxpayers. On the contrary, it has been run in
order to plunder them — as a result of a conspiracy involving Big Banks and
Big Government. This
unholy alliance has been milking labor and seniors (not to mention widows and
orphans) out of their substance for over four scores of years, and their
blatant pilfering from savers and taxpayers has pushed our entire economy to
the abyss or, in the scholarly words of the witness, ‘has exposed the global
financial environment to the dangers of a systemic breakdown.’ The
most amazing thing in all this is the cooperating stance of Dr. Parks’
witness. For example, Mr. Greenspan freely admits that ‘the central bank [has
been given] unlimited power to create money...’. This is tantamount to
admitting that, in the United States, the Federal Reserve banks are
unconstitutional. That country happens to have a constitution stating in no
uncertain terms that it is the charter of a government of limited and enumerated
powers. Not only is the (delegation of) power to create unlimited amounts
of money not enumerated, but the Constitution explicitly bars the
government from letting its bills of credit be organized into currency. Dr.
Parks is wondering about the cooperating tone of his witness, too, as the
title of his book suggests. While Mr. Greenspan is not testifying under oath,
his incentive to speak the truth may be motivated by more powerful
considerations. It is the desire to establish a solid public record of
eloquent admonitions, in order to cover up his being an accomplice in
bringing about a systemic breakdown which, as he might well judge, is by now
inevitable. Be
that as it may, it would appear incumbent on the suave Mr. Greenspan to
initiate a constitutional debate on the monetary provisions of the U.S. Constitution
which neither he nor his predecessors have ever mustered the decency or the
moral courage to recommend for repealing. If he fails to do that, the
conclusion remains inescapable that he would rather live with the stigma of
violating the Constitution every time puts his signature on an
official paper, just because labor and seniors appear to be too dumb to
understand what’s going on. In the meantime, as every discriminating reader
of this book will agree, when time comes to put Mr. Greenspan and his
accomplices squarely in the dock, the best candidate to act as the real
prosecutor should be none other than Dr. Parks.” Dr. Antal E. Fekete, Ph.D., Professor EmeritusMemorial University of Newfoundland |
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“I have no intention of providing a blurb. I thoroughly disagree.” Professor Milton
Friedman, Ph.D. Winner of the Swedish Bank Prize in Economic Sciences in
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“Reading Lawrence Parks’ study of Alan Greenspan’s analysis of contemporary economics, one encounters approbation of the gold standard and phenomena such as fiat money, inflation, volatile interest rates, evanescent safety nets, moral callousness, pernicious transfers of wealth, undeserved rewards and unjust punishments. It is lucid and frightening, and a stern and principled critique of the financial architecture of our economy. Whether or not one agrees with its call for a recrudescence of the gold standard, the reader will be educated and perforce, outraged. This potent plea is a monetary equivalent of Tom Paine’s ‘The Crisis.’” Murray I. Franck, Esq. Law Professor, |
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“Mr. Parks presents real food for thought relating to the issue
of fiscal responsibility.” Jack Gargan Former National Chairman of the Reform Party |
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“By analyzing an Alan
Greenspan talk in Belgium January 14,1997, Larry Parks presents a devastating
critique of Federal Reserve policy. The Fed tries to maintain a precarious
balance betwixt the Scylla of implosion (economic collapse) and the Charybdis of inflation. On the one hand Greenspan admits
that the Fed’s ‘unlimited power to create money’ ‘induces’ banks to expand
credit and make potentially risky loans. A ‘safety net/subsidy’ then protects
the banks from losses on bad loans even though, as Greenspan admits, the
subsidy distorts incentives by relieving banks of the full costs of the risks
taken and, if regularly anticipated, ‘would only encourage reckless and
irresponsible practices.’ Moreover, Parks explains, the ‘safety/net subsidy’
benefits banks, at the expense of taxpayers, workers and seniors. On the
other hand, if the Fed allowed bank loans to default, a chain reaction might
set in, ‘culminat[ing] in
financial implosion.’ Because ‘market signals
that usually accompany excessive risk-taking are substantially muted,’ as a
result of Fed policy, ‘and because the prices to banks of government deposit
guarantees . . . do not, and probably cannot, vary sufficiently with risk to
mimic market prices,’ central bank officials ‘try to achieve the proper
balance through official regulations, as well as through formal and informal
supervisory policies and procedures.’ In the process, they ‘are compelled to
act as a surrogate for market discipline.’ Central bank officials, who are no
less fallible than other human beings, cannot possibly know ‘what market
responses. . . would occur if there
were no safety net.’ Yet they make decisions every day, either explicitly or
by default, that affect the lives of everyone. And Fed Chairman Greenspan
admits that he and his colleagues ‘can never know for sure whether the
decisions [they] made were appropriate.’ On the one hand the Fed seeks to employ with caution its unlimited
power to create money so as not to induce over-expansion, and on the other
hand it tries to mute the effect on prices of its subsidizing of risky bank
loans. And at the same time it pursues an impossible dream — of trying to
replicate market prices. Parks describes Fed policy not only as one fraught
with danger, but also as absolutely unnecessary if we should adopt gold as
money and leave to private lenders the right to make loans without fear of
government threat or favor.” Dr. Bettina Bien Greaves, Ph.D.
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“Larry
Parks’ comments are always stimulating and original. Reading them in his What
Does Mr. Greenspan Really
Think? throws a new light
on the money issue. I highly recommend this book.” Dr.
Ernest van den Haag, Ph.D. |
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“Dr. Parks portrays Alan Greenspan as a central planner, par excellence. In his scholarly analysis of the Fed Chairman’s own words, he exposes an important truth about the Western World’s financial system….that it is nothing more than a confection held together by the decisions and judgments of this very fallible individual and his co-central planners, the Fed Governors. It is hard to conclude after reading this commentary that the system is on sound footing. In fact, it has been built upon ever more reckless interventions into freely trading markets which by Greenspan’s own words have distorted incentives and increased the leverage of its core financial institutions.” John
Hathaway, CFA, Senior Partner |
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“Who is Alan Greenspan? Why do we care what he thinks? What the hell is he saying, and why in the world do we ordinary citizens and working stiffs let him keep robbing us? Larry Parks tells all. Read, reflect, rebel.” Jim
Hightower |
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“Alan
Greenspan is highly regarded on Wall Street. But he has one severe critic:
Alan Greenspan. Larry Parks has the ability to translate Mr. Greenspan’s statements into common sense English, and this
reveals the enormous gulf between what Mr. Greenspan says and what he
is doing. Given the great power that Mr. Greenspan has over the U.S.
economy, it is very disturbing that this man is suffering a crisis of
conscience over his own behavior. Since so much in our lives depends on him, What
Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? is a must read for anyone who
wishes to understand the world in which he lives.” Howard
S. Katz, Author The Paper Aristocracy |
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“In a rational society,
Alan Greenspan would earn a living in some useful pursuit like pumping gas or
flipping burgers. Larry Parks would be systematically dismantling the Federal
Reserve System and they would both benefit from the increased prosperity that
this reallocation of responsibilities would bring about.” Robert
D. Kephart |
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“After two relevant
degrees from Harvard and a lifetime career involving money, I feel that What
Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? ranks with the best of books of
this genre both as to readability and insight. I pray it receives widespread
attention and that Dr. Parks’ views as to the inequities and misallocation of
resource attributable to fiat money be brought into the public debate.” Hon. Brewster Kopp |
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“Dr. Parks’ book is a must for anybody interested in the world of
finance and the future of human society. Mr. Alan Greenspan who, in his younger years, was
one of the most eloquent proponents and defenders of ‘Gold and Economic
Freedom,’ has become prisoner of an unholy system and has betrayed his
earlier convictions. Today, he seems like a shaman who gets his message from
the gods of evil, and he speaks in symbolic language only understood by the
initiated few. Damned be the man on the street, the workers, the pensioners
and the economically weak. All who do not know history are condemned to
repeat it. France’s experience with John Law is being repeated today on a
worldwide basis. But, Dr. Parks has learned his lesson well. He demonstrates
that the only way out of this avalanche of misallocations leading to the
complete destruction of the world economy is the gold standard. He prods us
into the realization that the only currency that can lead the world back to
prosperity, justice, order, culture and peace is gold.” Ferdinand Lips Private Banker, Switzerland |
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“There are very few people who understand the arcane ways in which money is created or, for that matter, who benefits and who is adversely affected by this act of creation. By parsing the language of the Fed chairman, Larry Parks has uncovered a minefield of illuminating observations. Larry Parks, the president of FAME, is the quintessential truth-teller in a world of obscurantism and misunderstanding. For most people, banking and global finance are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. However, the creation of fiat money affects transactions, buying power, investments, personal wealth and the rise and fall of nation states. Even today the runaway inflation during the German Weimar period in the 1930’s affects the attitude of the European Central bankers. Through textual analysis Mr. Parks offers extraordinary insight into the operation of the Federal Reserve and, as importantly, the future purchasing power of money. Lest anyone think these are either abstract or pettifogging matters, the creation of money is a transfer of wealth from Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public to the banking establishment. It is hard to conceive of any issue that is more profound than this one.” Dr.
Herbert I. London, Ph.D., President |
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“What Does Mr.
Greenspan Really Think? is dynamite! Mr. Greenspan has really
spilled the
beans, and Dr. Parks has caught him red-handed. In effect, Mr. Greenspan’s
assertion that the Federal Reserve stands ready to create money ‘without limit’
is in fact an admission that none of us have any property rights in anything
denominated in ‘dollars,’ including our savings, our stock portfolios, and
our pensions. The reason is that those ‘rights’ can be diluted to nothing to
bail out the banking system on account of banks leveraging their balance
sheets to garner ever-greater unearned profits! It is certainly a credit to
Mr. Greenspan that he has opened the door to the issue of ordinary taxpayers
subsidizing the banks, and, as Dr. Parks has shown, what a subsidy that is!
How else to explain the more than $600 billion that the financial sector
takes out of the economy? I am in awe of what is being said, and I am
dismayed that the establishment media has not focused on this. This book is a
real eye-opener. Dr. Parks has done an important public service by writing
it.” Dan
Mahony |
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“Dr. Parks has accomplished the equivalent of a headline ‘scoop,’ but for academicians and those with a longer term view on the important factors affecting our world and our lives. The Fed, its chairmen, and Alan Greenspan in particular are not known for straightforward clarity. Indeed, Mr. Greenspan’s actions often seem to contradict the economic principles he espouses. He does a superb job of obfuscation—of keeping domestic analysts and reporters perplexed regarding his actual beliefs and the principles on which he bases the decisions that affect all our lives significantly. Offshore, freed from the scrutiny of domestic observers, Mr. Greenspan uncharacteristically let his guard down. Apparently he did not reckon with the likes of Dr. Lawrence Parks. Dr Parks has, for once and all, defined for us many of Alan Greenspan’s economic principles in clear, unambiguous terms for the first time, with irrefutable logic applied to ‘best evidence,’ straight from the horse’s mouth. This is an inestimable service to all who need or want to understand the mindset and motivations of the man at the helm of our banking system, whose decisions determine our collective economic destiny. Mr. Greenspan is a man who understands much more than he lets on—but who is apparently willing and even eager at times to act in diametric opposition to his own professed beliefs. If you are an acute Fed observer, Dr. Parks will confirm with irrefutable evidence much of what you may have heretofore only suspected—and you may well discover a few surprises in his analysis too.” Morris Markovitz,
Author, President Mercury Management Associates, Inc. |
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“What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think?” by Dr. Lawrence Parks is an
interesting, thorough and rational analysis of our monetary system as managed
by the Federal Reserve. It should be read by professionals who are involved
as economists, bankers, experts interested in the U.S. economy, and by lay
persons who will be affected by the action or lack of action of the banking
community. I am somewhat amazed by my belief that even among the experts
there is little understanding or acceptance of the implications of Dr. Parks’
explanation of Mr. Greenspan’s comments about our monetary system.” Herbert S. Meeker, Esq., Partner Baer Marks & Upham |
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“There
is good research, provocative disclosure, and much food for thought in Dr. Parks’ erudite
analysis of ‘Doc’ Greenspan’s speech.” Dr. Victor Niederhoffer, Ph.D. World
Champion squash
player |
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“Lawrence Parks has written an insightful book about the most powerful man in the world. If you have any money — you need to read this book.” Bill
O’Reilly, Television Anchor |
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“My old friend Larry Parks has done the nation a valuable
service by exposing how even Alan Greenspan, the ‘man behind the curtain’ in
America’s monetary OZ, knows that the Federal Reserve is an unaccountable
bureaucracy that enriches special interests at the expense of working
Americans and our nation’s economic security. I highly recommend this work to
anyone who wishes to understand the dangers of our fiat money system and the
reforms necessary to ensure the dollar is once again ‘as good as gold.’” Hon. Ron Paul, MD Member of the United States House of Representatives Member of the House Banking Committee |
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“Larry Parks has performed an
extraordinary public service by explaining with clarity in layman’s language
the ways and means by which Congress has permitted the Federal Reserve System to tax the
American people without any real accountability to either Congress or the
taxpayers. Using direct quotes from Alan Greenspan, Parks demonstrates how
the earnings and savings of the American people have been diminished to
enrich a powerful Establishment elite. My prayer is that our President, our
Vice President, and every member of Congress will take the time to read this
book, and that perhaps some few of them will understand it and even act on
it.” Howard
Phillips, Chairman The Conservative Caucus |
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“In What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? Larry Parks has translated the Orwellian ‘newspeak’ of the Federal Reserve into language understandable by us all. Anyone who reads Dr. Parks’ hard-hitting translation of Alan Greenspan’s words will never again fall victim to the irrational belief that the Federal Reserve is the guardian of the national economy. His book is a great addition to the literature on sound money.” John A. Pugsley Chairman, The Sovereign Society |
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“How refreshing it is to read a
clear-headed, critical analysis of the Federal Reserve and its operations, as
opposed to the official news releases the major media is happy to regurgitate
without serious question! One doesn’t
have to agree with every point Dr. Parks makes to realize that he has
performed a valuable public service by explaining in lay terms why the
monetary emperor has no clothes.” Dr. Lawrence W. Reed, Ph.D. President |
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“It’s great to see
Greenspan deconstructed,
as only Larry Parks could do.” Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., President |
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“What does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? is a well written analysis of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s statements about the possibility of a complete monetary collapse under our present fiat currency monetary system. Dr. Larry Parks’ analysis shows how Mr. Greenspan justifies the transfer of ordinary citizen’s money to banks when they experience systemic defaults. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone who is concerned about his economic future.” Helen Reisler, President Rotary Club of New York |
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“Finally, someone tells us
what Mr. Greenspan really thinks! Dr. Lawrence Parks gives Americans the
first penetrating insights into a man who has tremendous influence on all of
our lives. I encourage you to read What Does Mr. Greenspan Really
Think?” Christopher
Ruddy, President & CEO |
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“This book is like a 1773 Thomas Paine pamphlet calling for freedom. Freedom from Greenspan and what he represents. The need is as desperate as it was in 1773. We need to get this book into the hands of innocent citizens.” Chevalier Harry D.
Schultz International Harry Schultz Letter
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“Larry Parks is like a sculptor who chips away at a rough-hewn block of marble until he reveals the art work ‘hidden’ inside. Only here there is a gargoyle waiting within the marble, because Parks’ raw material is the elusive mind that lurks behind the familiar, impassive countenance of Alan Greenspan. This man, the most powerful figure in the realms of money, banking, and finance, discusses central banks and their effects on economic conditions. In ruthless fashion, Parks analyzes Greenspan’s remarks and translates them into common language. What one finds is that the combination of central banking and fiat currency is a deadly one. Modern monetary systems encourage excessive risk-taking by financial intermediaries, can create crippling rates of inflation, and, above all, redistribute part of the wealth and income of the average taxpayer to a politically-privileged elite. The solution? Get rid of the bureaucratic management and return to the market discipline imposed by laissez-faire principles and a gold standard. I could not agree more.” Dr. Larry J.
Sechrest, Ph.D. Associate
Professor of Economics Sul Ross State University |
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“Understanding the actual workings of our
monetary system is very complicated for most people including myself. Money to the
economy is like air to a living organism; it is necessary. Do we have the
right kind of money? Larry Parks does an amazing job at making our system
understandable and creates reading that every American can and should
comprehend.” Denison
E. Smith, Chairman, For Our Grandchildren |
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“In conventional wisdom, economics is the dismal science and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is the saintly, obscure master regulator of our nation’s and the world’s economic well being. Dr. Larry Parks, in a unique and challenging intellectual tour de force, makes economics anything but dismal and Chairman Greenspan anything but obscure. This volume is worth reading for fun or, if one prefers, for profit and understanding. What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? is not to be taken lightly because the implications of what is revealed are truly momentous. The very heart of this nation’s economic system, fiat money, is an intricate contrivance which is inherently unstable and unfair. Our apparent success to date says more about the astuteness of the Chairman than it does about the suitability of the system. We are proceeding at breakneck speed and at enormous risk, gambling all the while on good luck and human perfection. Neither one can be assured with confidence. This book is an understandable call to arms.” Charles Darwin Snelling,
Columnist, MCALL.com; Venture
Capitalist
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“We should all be thankful that Mr. Greenspan has raised the issues of financial collapse, ongoing wealth transfer from ordinary citizens to the banking system, and, especially, that the banking system has a call on virtually all of everyone’s savings and promises of future payment—such as pensions—by virtue of the Federal Reserve’s mandated function to create money without limit to attempt to quell a systemic collapse. But we should be even more thankful that Dr. Parks has brilliantly translated Mr. Greenspan’s arcane language into a form that everyone can understand. What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about their investment portfolio and, more important, justice, fairness and living in a just society.” Dr. Leon Sutton, Ph.D.,Abraham Ben Jacob Sutton Foundation |
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“Larry Parks has laid bare the essence of the monetary system
and it should scare
the wits out of you. Not only is our economic system based on the flimsiest
of reeds—fiat money—but, as such, it rewards the idle at the expense of
hard-working Americans, and people the world over.” Greg Tarpinian, Executive Director Labor Research Association |
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“This little book is wonderful. By providing an insightful analysis of a major speech delivered by Alan Greenspan, Dr. Lawrence Parks has created an educational tool of great use. Reading between the lines and translating arcane jargon into terms everyone can understand, Dr. Parks identifies the fallacies, myths and the ultimate folly of central banking and its diabolical progeny: fiat currency. I hope that this book is circulated wide and far so that many people are given the opportunity to read not only what central banks have done to our money, but what they have done to our society — in other words, what they have done to us.” James
Turk, Managing Director & Founder |
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“In What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? Dr. Lawrence Parks brilliantly translates and deconstructs the latest Greenspanese—demonstrating that the Federal Reserve System’s true purpose is to employ fiat currency and bank credit to redistribute real wealth from average citizens to an economic and political elite. Moreover, that the Federal Reserve can, as Chairman Greenspan admits, ‘produce [fiat] money without limit,’ means that it can redistribute society’s wealth just as thoroughly—implying that no one outside the elite can enjoy economic security as long as the central bank exists. So, Dr. Parks’ commentary is both an education and a warning that all Americans need to study, to take to heart, and to act upon before the harsh laws of economics call the Federal Reserve System to account.” Dr.
Edwin Vieira, Jr., Esq., President & Founder |
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“Most will recall the childhood game called ‘telephone’ whereby a message is passed from person to person, and then, at the end of the chain, the message turns out to be greatly distorted from its original content. In the media today, that describes what generally happens to Mr. Greenspan’s remarks. Dr. Parks has short-circuited this process by juxtaposing Mr. Greenspan’s comments with what they mean in plain English so that ordinary people can understand his message, and that message is very profound. In this small and very important book, Dr. Parks raises questions that should be the concern everyone, and especially our elected representatives. As the former President of the New York Chapter of the Federalist Society, I can say with some authority that What Does Mr. Greenspan Really Think? should be studied by every citizen. It is a truly remarkable and valuable accomplishment.” Michael
Weinberger, Esq. |
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"Straight talk from a straight shooter." Kathryn M. Welling, Editor and Publisher Welling@Weeden, Weeded
& Co. LP |
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“The most important aspect of this extraordinary book is the basic question it raises: Is the power Mr. Greenspan wields consistent with our system of limited constitutional government? Dr. Parks’ thoughtful analysis and easy-to-understand explanation of Mr. Greenspan’s views should be at the top of the agenda of anyone concerned about his economic future.” Hon. Faith
Whittlesey, President & Chairman American Swiss Foundation
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