Skip navigation
Watchlist Sponsored By :

Current DateTime: 12:50:41 11 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 24355697
  • Highest Grossing Movies

      What are the highest grossing movies of all time, adjusted for inflation? Click ahead to find out!

  • Most Expensive Places To Live

      Each year, Mercer Consulting assembles its ranking of the most expensive places to live. Mercer compiles information from 143 cities worldwide.

  • Recession-Resistant US Cities

      Some cities have been hit much harder than others during the recession. Here are the metro areas faring the best.


Current DateTime: 12:50:41 11 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 24890560
  • Boom, Bust and Blame

      The inside story of the economic crisis that has gripped the entire world.

  • E3: Gaming's Cutting Edge

      North America's premier computer and video game trade show draws tens of thousands of professionals to experience the future of interactive entertainment.

  • The Fall of GM

      A look into the fall of General Motors as the automaker heads toward bankruptcy and an effective nationalization.

Judging A Giant: Greenspan's Legacy -- Need To Know
By: By CNBC.com | 10 Aug 2007 | 01:17 PM ET
Text Size

The Federal Reserve System isn't as old as some would think, nor was it a wildly popular concept when the idea was first floated. There was significant distrust about the potential powers of a central bank even though a series of financial panics had beset the country in the prior century.

The Fed was created by Congress with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to provide the nation
with "a safer, more flexible and more stable monetary and financial system," as the Fed website home page puts it.

For more information, the Fed website is a good place to start, even if it is a bit uninviting.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/

Fed chairmen have been few and far between for the most part. Alan Greenspan was the 13th Fed boss. His top salary was $186,600.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/bios/boardmembership.htm

Board members serve 14-year terms, chairmen four-year ones. A governor who has served a full term may not be reappointed, but one who was appointed to complete an unexpired term may be reappointed to a full fourteen-year term. Such was the case with Greenspan, who served more than 18 years.

During that period, Greenspan faced many challenges and crises, but early on in his tenure came one of his defining moments -- the stock market crash of October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost a quarter of its value. Twenty years on, here is one analysis.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/Pubs/feds/2007/200713/200713pap.pdf

At the time, one of several so-called causes of the crash was the Fed's interest rate hike in Septemeber, the first under Chairman Greenspan. Here are notes of the FOMC's Sept. 22 meeting and what members were thinking at the time.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/transcripts/1987/870922StaffState.pdf

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Tools:
Print EmailAdd This share icon


Current DateTime: 03:49:59 10 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 01:04:09 10 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 06:35:27 10 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 01:05:34 10 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
CNBCCNBC
About CNBC  |  Site Map  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service  |  Video Reprints  |  Advertise  |  Help  |  Contact
Partners: AOL Money  |  BloggingStocks.com
CNBC is a Division of NBC Universal
  Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters