Alan Greenspan was born on the 6th of March 1926 in the Washington Heights area of New York City. He attended George Washington High School while playing clarinet and saxophone alongside Stan Getz.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Alan Greenspan for the Federal Reserve chairmanship on the 2nd of June 1987, and the Senate confirmed him on the 11th of August 1987. He held this position until the 31st of January 2006 when Ben Bernanke took over.
After September 11 attacks the Fed dropped rates from 3.5% to 3.0% then to 1.00% following accounting scandals in 2002. In February 2004 Alan Greenspan suggested homeowners should consider adjustable-rate mortgages when the funds rate sat at 1% before raising them to 5.25% about two years later.
In the early 1950s Alan Greenspan began an association with novelist Ayn Rand through his first wife Joan Mitchell. He read Atlas Shrugged while it was being written and contributed essays to her 1966 book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.
Immediately after leaving the Fed Alan Greenspan formed Greenspan Associates LLC as an economic consulting firm. Pacific Investment Management Company hired him as a special consultant in May 2007, Deutsche Bank retained him as senior advisor in August 2007, and Paulson & Co. hired him in mid-January 2008.