William Greider
Encyclopedia
William Greider is an American
journalist
and author
who writes primarily about economics
.
His most recent (2009) book is Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) Of Our Country. Before that he published The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy, which explores the basis and history of the corporation and how people can influence further development of it. He is national affairs correspondent
for The Nation, a liberal
political weekly. Prior to his work at The Nation, he wrote for Rolling Stone
magazine during the 1980s and 1990s, and worked as an on-air correspondent for Frontline on PBS
.
Greider also wrote a major book on globalization -- One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (1997) -- which described the underlying vulnerabilities and inequities of the global economy. The credibility of this work was heavily criticized by economist Paul Krugman
, who claimed that Greider ignored the fallacies of composition
that run rampant in the work, misinterpreted facts (some of which were incorrect), and misled readers with false assumptions - all possibly due to his lack of consultation with economists. In his latest, Come Home, America (2009), Greider claims that Krugman has changed his views over the last decade to move closer to Greider's.
Greider's most powerful and far-reaching work is Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country (1987), which chronicles the history of the Federal Reserve, and especially from 1979 to 1987 under the chairmanship of Paul Volcker, during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
A former reporter and editor at the Washington Post, Greider is credited with coining the term "Nader's Raiders" in a Post article dated November 13, 1968. During an October 1, 2008 broadcast interview on the impending passage of the "Wall Street bailout" despite widespread public opposition. Greider observed:
On January 29, 2009, in an interview with Amy Goodman
on "Democracy Now!
", Greider commented regarding the United States' financial system's financial crisis
:
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
who writes primarily about economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
.
His most recent (2009) book is Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) Of Our Country. Before that he published The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy, which explores the basis and history of the corporation and how people can influence further development of it. He is national affairs correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
for The Nation, a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
political weekly. Prior to his work at The Nation, he wrote for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine during the 1980s and 1990s, and worked as an on-air correspondent for Frontline on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
.
Greider also wrote a major book on globalization -- One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (1997) -- which described the underlying vulnerabilities and inequities of the global economy. The credibility of this work was heavily criticized by economist Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
, who claimed that Greider ignored the fallacies of composition
Fallacy of composition
The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole...
that run rampant in the work, misinterpreted facts (some of which were incorrect), and misled readers with false assumptions - all possibly due to his lack of consultation with economists. In his latest, Come Home, America (2009), Greider claims that Krugman has changed his views over the last decade to move closer to Greider's.
Greider's most powerful and far-reaching work is Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country (1987), which chronicles the history of the Federal Reserve, and especially from 1979 to 1987 under the chairmanship of Paul Volcker, during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
A former reporter and editor at the Washington Post, Greider is credited with coining the term "Nader's Raiders" in a Post article dated November 13, 1968. During an October 1, 2008 broadcast interview on the impending passage of the "Wall Street bailout" despite widespread public opposition. Greider observed:
- (T)his is a very revealing moment in American democracy. We’re seeing the real deformities and power alignments that govern issues like this, particularly the financial system. (A)ll of the power centers in politics and finance and business are discredited by these events. (W)e had this moment Monday (September 29, 2008) when, for complicated political reasons, a majority in the House rose up and said no. (O)f course...the broad public...regards this bailout as a swindle and backwards. (The public wonders 'w)hy are you giving all this money to the people who caused this crisis and taking the money from the public assets of the victims?'"
On January 29, 2009, in an interview with Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
on "Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
", Greider commented regarding the United States' financial system's financial crisis
Financial crisis
The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these...
:
- I’ve been writing for some months, the system is not just broken and not just injured; it is collapsed. And as long as the government continues to play putting Humpty DumptyHumpty DumptyHumpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...
back together again, I think it will fail. That’s not an ideological statement. It’s just—I think it’s the reality.
Cultural references
- The R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
song "Departure" on the album New Adventures in Hi-FiNew Adventures in Hi-FiNew Adventures in Hi-Fi is the tenth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was their fifth major label release for Warner Bros. Records, released on September 9, 1996, in Europe and Australia and the following day in the United States...
contains the lyric "Win a eulogy from William Greider".