I Wish More Interviews are Conducted Like These

Jon Stewart has to be the best interviewer on television. This video is just one example of why I think so:

Part 1:



Part 2:

I've always been impressed with how he asks tough questions that dig to the heart of the issues. A favorite of mine is when he had Alan Greenspan as a guest and asked big, intelligent questions. Taken from this website, here's what Stewart had for Greenspan:

The first question was, essentially, "if you're such a believer in free markets, why do we need a Federal Reserve to set interest rates at all?".

The second question... Look what happened when the Fed slashed rates, said Stewart: the stock market, where rich people keep their money, skyrocketed. Now most of us work for a living, and keep our money in the bank, and the Fed has just reduced the interest rates that banks pay while rewarding the speculators in the stock market. Isn't it essentially taking from the working stiff and giving to the rich?

Watch the interview here:

 

"The Age of Turbulence" by Alan Greenspan

I've just finished reading Alan Greenspan's "The Age of Turbulence" and, although it took me a while to finish, I found it intelligent and interesting (this coming from someone with no Economics background). Admittedly, I had to re-read sentences and paragraphs trying to understand the unfamiliar words, terms, concepts, and explanations.

My primary inspiration in reading books is the learning that I would get in the process. In this case, I delved into such relevant a topic as global economics as well as glimpsed into the mind of the person who is perhaps best suited to talk about it in our era.