The daily Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter's Oct 14 2008 edition concluded that Stan Getz was partly to blame for the financial crisis now plaguing the world. The reason: An article in the New York Times called
"Taking a hard new look at a Greenspan legacy."
The Swedish paper concluded that things might have been different had Greenspan pursued a musical career.
Turning to music and baseball
ALAN GREENSPAN: Then, I decided that baseball was my thing. And I
was actually getting very good, but at the age of 14, I hit a
plateau and I never improved.
JIM LEHRER: You were a left-hander, first baseman, right?
ALAN GREENSPAN: I was a left-handed first baseman. I hit the ball
pretty well. Then, I got into music, and I became a professional
musician for a couple of years.
JIM LEHRER: Played the clarinet...
ALAN GREENSPAN: Clarinet, saxophone, flute, bass clarinet.
JIM LEHRER: Which one did you enjoy the most?
ALAN GREENSPAN: I actually enjoyed the clarinet the best, but I was
a fairly good amateur, but a moderate professional. But what really
did me in is I had, as an amateur, had to play next to Stan Getz. I
was 16; he was 15. I decided, "Do I really want to be in this
business?"
JIM LEHRER: Why, because he was so good?
ALAN GREENSPAN: Oh, my god.
JIM LEHRER: Was he really good?
ALAN GREENSPAN: And he was one of the really historic famous sax
players. And the best economic decision I ever made in my life was
to decide to leave the music business and go into economics.
"Taking a hard new look at a Greenspan legacy."
The Swedish paper concluded that things might have been different had Greenspan pursued a musical career.
Turning to music and baseball
ALAN GREENSPAN: Then, I decided that baseball was my thing. And I
was actually getting very good, but at the age of 14, I hit a
plateau and I never improved.
JIM LEHRER: You were a left-hander, first baseman, right?
ALAN GREENSPAN: I was a left-handed first baseman. I hit the ball
pretty well. Then, I got into music, and I became a professional
musician for a couple of years.
JIM LEHRER: Played the clarinet...
ALAN GREENSPAN: Clarinet, saxophone, flute, bass clarinet.
JIM LEHRER: Which one did you enjoy the most?
ALAN GREENSPAN: I actually enjoyed the clarinet the best, but I was
a fairly good amateur, but a moderate professional. But what really
did me in is I had, as an amateur, had to play next to Stan Getz. I
was 16; he was 15. I decided, "Do I really want to be in this
business?"
JIM LEHRER: Why, because he was so good?
ALAN GREENSPAN: Oh, my god.
JIM LEHRER: Was he really good?
ALAN GREENSPAN: And he was one of the really historic famous sax
players. And the best economic decision I ever made in my life was
to decide to leave the music business and go into economics.