Reporter and Author William Greider Dies at Age 83

[Kid Berwyn]

Sad news for those who care about truth. Greider was the one who exposed Reaganomics for the scam it is in 1981.

'A Stark Loss for American Journalism': Reporter and Author William Greider Dies at Age 83

He was an old school journalist from the pre-internet era when journalists actually sat down and took time to talk to regular people."

by Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams, Dec. 27, 2019

William "Bill" Greider, a veteran journalist and author who spent decades reporting on politics and economics for national media outlets, died Wednesday at his home in Washington, D.C. at the age of 83.

Born on Aug. 6, 1936 to Harold and Gladys, Greider was raised in Wyoming, Ohio and graduated from Princeton in 1958. He died from complications of congestive heart failure, according to his son Cameron. In addition to Cameron, Greider is survived by his wife Linda, his daughter Katharine, his sister Nancy, and four grandchildren.

A longtime national affairs correspondent for The Nation, Greider also spent 17 years at Rolling Stone and 15 years at The Washington Post. He was a correspondent for six Frontline documentaries on PBS and authored several books. During his tenure at The Nation, Greider was a frequently featured writer on Common Dreams.

Greider's editors, fellow reporters, and readers have turned to social media since his death on Christmas Day to recognize his contributions to journalism and highlight some of his most celebrated pieces of writing.

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/27/stark-loss-american-journalism-reporter-and-author-william-greider-dies-age-83

[kentuck]

1. A great writer and political thinker.

He will be missed. One of my favorites.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. He exposed Reaganomics for the Trickle-Down scam it STILL is.

I know you remember the interview with David Stockman in The Atlantic. For most others, it’s still news. Corporate owned media monopoly being like that.

The Education of David Stockman

“None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.”

by William Greider
The Atlantic, December 1981

Excerpt...

The supply-side approach, which Stockman had only lately embraced, assumed first of all, that dramatic action by the new President, especially the commitment to a three-year reduction of the income tax, coupled with tight monetary control, would signal investors that a new era was dawning, that the growth of government would be displaced by the robust growth of the private sector. If economic behavior in a climate of high inflation is primarily based on expectations about the future value of money, then swift and dramatic action by the President could reverse the gloomy assumptions in the disordered financial markets. As inflation abated, interest rates dropped, and productive employment grew, those marketplace developments would, in turn, help Stockman balance the federal budget.

“The whole thing is premised on faith,” Stockman explained. “On a belief about how the world works.” As he prepared the script in his mind, his natural optimism led to bullish forecasts, which were even more robust than the Reagan Administration’s public promises. “The inflation premium melts away like the morning mist,” Stockman predicted. “It could be cut in half in a very short period of time if the policy is credible. That sets off adjustments and changes in perception that cascade through the economy. You have a bull market in ’81, after April, of historic proportions.”

Snip...

Across the river from St. Joe’s, Stockman drove through the deserted Main Street of Benton Harbor, his favorite example of failed liberalism. Once it had been a prosperous commercial center, but now most of its stores and buildings were boarded up and vacant except for an occasional storefront church or social-service agency. As highways and suburban shopping centers pulled away commerce, the downtown collapsed, whites moved, and the city became predominantly black and overwhelmingly poor. The federal government’s various efforts to revive Benton Harbor had quite visibly failed.

“When you have powerful underlying demographic and economic forces at work, federal intervention efforts designed to reverse the tide turn out to have rather anemic effect,” Stockman said, surveying the dilapidated storefronts. “I wouldn’t be surprised if $100 million had been spent here in the last twenty years. Urban renewal, CETA, model cities, they’ve had everything. And the results? No impact whatever.”

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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/12/the-education-of-david-stockman/305760/

[Jim__]

3. Really learned a lot from "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country"

I didn't agree with everything he said; but definitely enjoyed reading him.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. Robert Kuttner called the book 'his greatest achievement.'

Greider and Sifton: Unique Treasures, RIP

BY ROBERT KUTTNER
The American Prospect, DECEMBER 27, 2019

I’ve lost two much-admired friends this month. My former carrel-mate at The Washington Post, Bill Greider, died at 83 on Christmas Day. Bill became more of an intellectual and more of a radical as he got older and as American capitalism became more corrupted. I don’t think Bill’s core values changed; reality did.

Bill earned his strong views through deep reporting. I learned from him that if you ask respectful, well-informed questions, the most improbable sources will give you the family jewels.

He famously got Reagan’s OMB director David Stockman to admit that supply-side economics was a fraud, the result of Greider’s persuading him to give several extended interviews. Greider was assistant managing editor of the Post at the time.

His 18,000-word article “The Education of David Stockman,” published in December 1981 for The Atlantic, made Greider a celebrity and Stockman a goat. It also mightily annoyed his colleagues at the Post, who wondered why Greider hadn’t given his scoop to the paper. Greider left the Post shortly afterward to begin a new career as a magazine writer, first with Rolling Stone, then with The Nation.

Greider’s greatest achievement was the best book ever written on the Federal Reserve, Secrets of the Temple. His prime source was none other than Paul Volcker. Once again, Greider’s genius was persuading people with little to gain and much to lose that he was worth talking to, and then going deep and fair.

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https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/greider-and-sifton-unique-treasures-rip/

Editors like Ms. Lifton, too, are impossible to replace.

[Bradshaw3]

5. A great journalist who could explain complex issues

And he was always one of those who wasn't afraid to challenge the powers that be.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. Profound guy. He said he got more radical with age.

“Our values are defined by what we will tolerate when it is done to others. Everyone's sense of virtue is degraded by the present reality. A revolutionary principle is embedded in the global economic system, awaiting broader recognition: Human dignity is indivisible. Across the distances of culture and nations, across vast gulfs of wealth and poverty, even the least among us are entitled to dignity, and no justification exists or brutalizing them in the pursuit of commerce.”

— William Greider

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1445790