The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan — Twenty-three: “THE BEST ECONOMY I’VE EVER SEEN”

1. 1. Alan Greenspan married Andrea Mitchell on April 6, 1997, in a private ceremony that became public due to high-profile guests.
2. 2. Greenspan's marriage to Andrea Mitchell marked the end of 44 years of bachelorhood, during which he dated news anchors, senators, and beauty queens.
3. 3. By summer 1997, the U.S. economy showed low unemployment below 5% and inflation near 2%, leading Greenspan to declare a potential once-in-a-century productivity surge.
4. 4. Greenspan's 'irrational exuberance' warning from December 1996 became a widely repeated meme, but the stock market continued to soar, rising 27% by August 1997.
5. 5. The Asian financial crisis began in July 1997 when Thailand's currency peg broke, causing the economy to shrink by one-sixth and transferring over $1 billion to speculators.
6. 6. Greenspan initially dismissed the Asian crisis as a distant concern, noting East Asia represented too small a share of U.S. trade to affect America's growth.
7. 7. South Korea's true foreign-currency reserves were nearly exhausted, contrary to the publicly announced $24 billion, as revealed by central bank governor Lee Kyung Shik to Fed official Ted Truman.
8. 8. Greenspan ruled out a Fed swap line for South Korea, preferring the Treasury and IMF to take the lead, and was irritated by the Korean governor's dissembling.
9. 9. The U.S. orchestrated a $55 billion IMF bailout for South Korea on December 3, 1997, but the currency resumed its free fall days later, validating Greenspan's skepticism.
10. 10. To stabilize Korea, the U.S. forced private banks to roll over loans, a strategy Greenspan reluctantly supported but refused to personally implement.
11. 11. In March 1998, Travelers and Citicorp announced the largest corporate merger ever, creating Citigroup, which required Congress to retroactively legalize the combination of banking and insurance.
12. 12. Greenspan told President Clinton in May 1998 that the economy was 'the best I've ever seen in fifty years,' despite the Asian crisis and stock market exuberance.