Tuesday night’s debate in New Hampshire was not the first time Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain praised former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
In his recently released book, Cain — who served as chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve from 1995-1996 — wrote that Greenspan “was a very effective leader who did not make unilateral decisions.”
“Chairman Greenspan was a very amiable, soft-spoken, at times brilliant guy,” Cain wrote. “He would sit patiently and listen to all the reports; hear everybody; and then come to his insightful conclusion about what we needed to do.”
During the debate Tuesday night, Cain named Greenspan as the model for the chairman he would nominate to the Federal Reserve. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was not pleased.
“Spoken like a true insider,” Paul said in response to Cain during the debate. “No, Alan Greenspan was a disaster.”
“Everybody in Washington — liberals and conservatives — said he kept interest rates too low, too long.” Paul continued.
In his book, Cain wrote that when he was chairman, he “would go to Washington to meet with the Federal Reserve’s chairman, Alan Greenspan, and the other governors so they could receive firsthand anecdotal feedback.”
The Daily Caller attempted to interview Greenspan, but a spokeswoman said he was not available.
Cain, in his book, also said his work “demonstrated to me that we need the Federal Reserve, contrary to what some people, including at least one of my current opponents for the presidential nomination, believe.”
“I don’t believe we need to end the Federal Reserve system — that would be comparable to advocating that we get rid of air traffic controllers because we have some plane crashes,” Cain wrote.