Alan Greenspan"s tenure at the US Federal Reserve coincided with a period of unparalleled global growth, stability, and prosperity. But the world economy has been warped since the 1997 Asian crisis by excessive saving in China and developing Asia, as well as in Japan and north-central Europe. Unsophisticated economic policies and primitive financial systems notably in China, but also in other parts of Asia have resulted in the global economy now depending on unprecedented current account deficits and the willingness of America, Britain, Australia, and increasingly Mediterranean Europe, to import goods and capital. This book examines the financial crisis.