William Greider

William Greider

William Greider is an author of the books Fortress America, published by PublicAffairs Books, which has published authors such as George Soros.

William Greider’s 40-year career as a reporter and best-selling author brought him in close proximity to very powerful people, from the White House to Wall Street, from major multinational corporations to the Federal Reserve and its awesome governing powers. Yet Greider’s distinctive quality is his critical perspective. He examines power – who has it, who doesn’t – in behalf of the ordinary Americans who are distant from the inner circles of America’s governing elites.

Career

After the Army, Greider started his career at a very small daily newspaper, the Wheaton Daily Journal in Wheaton, Illinois, where he covered everything from school board meetings to murders. From there, he moved up to the Louisville Times in Louisville, Kentucky, and then became Washington correspondent for the Times and Courier-Journal. He and his wife, Linda Greider, also a writer, have lived in the nation’s capital since 1966.

Greider joined the national staff of the Washington Post in 1968 and was a correspondent for a dozen years, eventually becoming the assistant managing editor directing national coverage. He also edited Outlook, the Post’s Sunday opinion section, and wrote a weekly column called "Against the Grain."

Writing

In 1981, he wrote a controversial account of the Reagan administration titled "The Education of David Stockman," based on a series of private interviews with Reagan’s budget director. Published in the Atlantic Monthly, "the article revealed the fallacies and contradictions of Reaganomics in intimate detail and caused a sensation among Washington politicians and policy makers." An expanded version became Greider’s first book,The Education of David Stockman and Other Americans (Dutton 1982).

Next Greider made a surprising career move. He left the prestigious Washington Post and elite circles in Washington to join Rolling Stone, the magazine of popular culture. For the next 17 years, Greider wrote a regular political column for Rolling Stone while he produced a string of best-selling books.

Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country (Simon and Schuster 1987) is Greider’s monumental account of how the American central bank, cloistered and protected from public accountability, exercises its control over the US economy – workers, consumers, investors. The book has sold 300,000 copies and remains in print 20 years later.

Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy (1992) is a close-in account of how politics and representative self-government have become deformed and decayed. Washington rejected the analysis, not surprisingly, but the book was on the New York Times bestseller list for 20 weeks.

One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (1997) explained the dynamics of the globalizing economy and predicted the financial disorders that followed a few years later as well as the huge trade deficits and foreign indebtedness that now burden the US. Based on reporting on three continents, the book explores the drama of industrial revolution, from peasants becoming industrial workers to the highest realms of global finance. The book was published in six foreign countries including China.

Fortress America: The American Military and the Consequences of Peace (Public Affairs 1998). This short book grew out of a series of articles in Rolling Stone, finalist in the National Magazine Awards. Touring the armed services and the manufacturing side of the military-industrial complex, Greider explained the post-Cold War dilemmas for a massive armed country in search of a war.

The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy (Simon and Schuster 2003) makes this provocative assertion: US capitalism can be reformed in profound ways and people in and out of the system are working on it. From financial investing to worker ownership, Greider explained the qualities within capitalism that lead to its destructive dominance of American society and showed the leverage points by which these can be altered.

Greider's latest book – Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country (Rodale 2009) – describes the epic turning point in our nation’s history driven by financial crisis, economic deterioration and other fundamental adversities. The country faces a hard passage ahead. The fateful question is whether we can emerge on other side as a better country with more-fulfilling, self-directed lives for all. This is possible, the book insists, but only if the people themselves step up and reclaim their role as citizens in the full meaning.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 1997 Chicago DSA member Bruce Bentley wrote;

There is a class struggle in process in the Congress with the Progressive Caucus around such issues as the Welfare Bill, NAFTA and Single Payer Health Care.

As a result of this DSA's Political Director Christine Riddiough organized a meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus with the purpose and cogent task as to: "How can we unite our forces on a common agenda?" Those in attendance included Richard Trumka, Noam Chomsky, Patricia Ireland, William Greider and Jesse Jackson.

"The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum"

On January 9, 1997, over 600 people attended "The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum" sponsored by the House Progressive Caucus, Democratic Socialists of America, and a host of other progressive organizations.

The primary goal of this day-long "kick-off" forum was to "identify the unifying values shared by progressives at this point in US history, to help define core elements of a forward-looking progressive agenda, and to pinpoint ways to connect that agenda with the concerns of millions of disillusioned people who lack voices in present politics and policy-making."

After a welcome by Representative Bernie Sanders, an impressive array of legislators, activists, and thinkers offered their insights. Senator Paul Wellstone, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Patricia Ireland of NOW, Richard Trumka of theAFL-CIO, Noam Chomsky, William Greider of Rolling Stone, and DSA Honorary Chair Barbara Ehrenreich were among the many who spoke.

Some emphasized the importance of the conventional, if difficult, process of progressive candidates building grassroots campaigns that treat voters with intelligence and challenge prevailing wisdom regarding what values and issues motivate ordinary Americans struggling to make ends meet-as opposed to using polls and focus groups to concoct "designer" campaigns to appeal to upscale "soccer moms." Other speakers reminded those present that great changes are made by people acting outside of the corridors of power to define justice and "political reality," and the electoral and legislative processes are not the only arenas worthy of activists' attention.

"Is the Pentagon Budget Increase Needed?"

February 3, 1999 Council for a Livable World convened a seminar in Rayburn House on "Is the Pentagon Budget Increase Needed?"

Participants were;

• Robert Borosage - Co-Director Campaign for America's Future
• John Conyers - [D] Michigan
• Peter DeFazio - [D] Oregon
• Barney Frank - [D] Massachusetts
• William Greider - Editor Rolling Stone
• Jim McGovern- [D] Massachusetts
• Michael O'Hanlon - Research Associate Brookings Institution
• Major Owens - [D] New York
• Nancy Pelosi- [D] California
• Grace Reef - Childrens Defense Fund
• Bernie Sanders - [I] Vermont
• Jan Schakowsky - [D] Illinois
• Lynn Woolsey - [D] California

"Inequality Matters"

In 2004 United for a Fair Economy, a Boston "economic justice think tank", co-sponsored a national conference on inequality. Some of the conference papers were published as "Inequality Matters: the Growing Economic Divide in America", which also included suggested public policies to counteract it. Among the contributors were Betsy Leondar-Wright, William Greider, Meizhu Lui, Bob Kuttner and Christopher Jencks.

Chicago DSA honor

The 2010 Chicago Democratic Socialists of America Debs-Thomas-Harrington Dinner gathered together people representing Chicago’s legal, labor, liberal, and left communities to honor the People’s Law Office and the United Electrical Workers’ Western Regional President Carl Rosen, with author William Greider as featured speaker and Kim Bobo as master of ceremonies.

2011 11th Annual Detroit Douglass-Debs Dinner

Over 200 people attended the 12th annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner on October 1st at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn. The dinner honored Reverend Ed Rowe, senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan). Reverend Rowe was honored for his lifetime commitment to social justice, civil rights, and workers’ rights. The event honored ROC-Michigan for its recent successful campaign to improve wages and working conditions at Andiamo Restaurant. Congressman Hansen Clarke presented congressional citations to both awardees.

The dinner co-chairs were Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams and UAW Vice-President James Settles, Jr. The Bill Meyer Group provided entertainment and led the audience in singing “Solidarity Forever” and “The Internationale.” Keynote speaker was William Greider, national affairs correspondent at The Nation.

Greider charmed the audience with his anecdotes. At one point, when queried as to whether he was a socialist, Greider replied, “Not yet, but if you folks get your act together, I may become one.” In his prepared remarks, Greider emphasized the importance of the housing crisis in dragging down the nation’s economy. He described a “death spiral” in which home foreclosures depress the prices of surrounding homes thereby causing the owners of those homes to go “underwater” on their mortgages leading to a cascade of new foreclosures. He advocated that the Obama administration issue an executive order to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac instructing them to write down the principal on mortgages they hold in order to allow people to remain in their homes. By lowering homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments in this way, not only would the “death spiral” be halted, but people would have more disposable income, thereby stimulating the economy.

DSA National Director Maria Svart also addressed the Douglass-Debs Dinner.

'Top Economists to Advise Sanders on Fed Reform'

On October 20, 2011, Bernie Sanders released a press release titled "Top Economists to Advise Sanders on Fed Reform":

"WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 – Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and other nationally-renowned economists agreed today to serve on a panel of experts to help Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) draft legislation to reform the Federal Reserve.

Sanders announced formation of his expert advisory panel in the wake of a damning report that faulted apparent conflicts of interest by bank-picked board members at the 12 regional Fed banks.

Top executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric and other firms sat on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks while their firms benefited from the central bank’s policies during the financial crisis, the Government Accountability Office investigation found. The dual roles created an appearance of a conflict of interest, according to the GAO.

After the report was issued Wednesday, Sanders said he would work with top economists to develop legislation to restructure the Fed and tighten rules on conflicts of interest, ensure that the Fed fulfills its full-employment mandate, increase transparency, protect consumers and reduce income inequality.

Sanders’ panel of experts includes:

• Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize. The economics professor at Columbia University is a former chief economist for the World Bank.
• Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute and an economics professor at Columbia University. He also is special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
• Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President-Elect Obama’s transition advisory board. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the ten most successful cabinet secretaries of the century.
• James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Galbraith served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee.
• Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, the premier research organization focused on U.S. living standards and labor markets.
• William Black, associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He worked with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
• Nomi Prins, a senior fellow at Demos, was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, a senior manager at Bear Stearns in London, a senior strategist at Lehman Brothers, and an analyst at the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPM Chase)
• William Greider, author of Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, a monumental account of how the American central bank, cloistered and protected from public accountability, exercises its control over the US economy – workers, consumers, investors.
• Jane D'Arista, an Economic Policy Institute research associate, has written on the history of U.S. monetary policy and financial regulation, The former Boston University School of Law professor previously served as a staff economist for Congress.
• Tim Canova, professor of economic law and co-director of the Center for Global Law & Development at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif. He was an early critic of financial deregulation and warned of the dangers of the bubble economy.
• Robert Johnson, senior fellow and director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute. He was chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee and a senior economist for the Senate Budget Committee.
• Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He was a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a consultant for the World Bank and the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.
• Gerald Epstein, chair of the economics department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Epstein also is the co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute.
• Robert Auerbach, professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs with the University of Texas at Austin. Auerbach was an economist with the House banking committee during the tenure of four Federal Reserve Chairmen: Arthur Burns, William Miller, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan. Auerbach also served as an economist in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Monetary Affairs during the first year of the Ronald Reagan administration and as a financial economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve System.
• Roger Hickey, Co-Director of the Campaign for America's Future. In the late 1980s he and Jeff Faux created the Economic Policy Institute.
• Robert L. Borosage is the founder and president of the Institute for America's Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America's Future.
• Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute and economics professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has worked with the Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. Competitiveness Policy Council.
• L. Randall Wray, a professor of economics and research director of the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute.
• Stephanie Kelton, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and a research scholar at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability.

The need for major reforms at the Federal Reserve was driven home by the GAO findings announced Wednesday and in an earlier report issued on July 21. Both unprecedented audits of the Federal Reserve were required by a Sanders’ amendment to last year’s Wall Street reform law...

The Nation

In 2009 William Greider was listed as National affairs correspondent of The Nation.

External links

• The Nation website