Alan Greenspan, architect of the modern American economy, dies aged 100

Alan Greenspan, architect of the modern American economy, dies aged 100Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGetty ImagesFormer US Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan has died aged 100, his wife has said.NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell said in a statement reported by her employer that her husband had died from complications of Parkinson's Disease.As chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006, Greenspan presided over the longest sustained period of US economic growth in a generation.Mitchell's statement said Greenspan was "a giant of a man who helped shape the US economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes".For nearly 20 years, Alan Greenspan was charged with safeguarding the US economy and keeping the dollar sound.As chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006, a post described as the second most important after the presidency, he presided over the longest sustained period of US economic growth in a generation.Described as the "God in the machine" of American finance, Greenspan declined all requests for interviews during his time at the Fed.But the media and the money markets hung on his few public statements, and a sign in his office said simply, "the buck starts here".But critics argue that an over-reliance on easy credit fuelled the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008.Bettmann via Getty ImagesPresident Nixon gave him his entry into governmentAlan Greenspan was born in New York City on 6 March 1926. His mother, who worked in a furniture store, brought him up single-handed.Far from being a budding economist, the young Greenspan was a talented musician, who studied the clarinet at New York's renowned Julliard School of Music.He played in a band with Stan Getz, the legendary jazz saxophonist, before touring the country with the Henry Jerome Band. This peripatetic lifestyle gave him a valuable prac...