You could trace the problems back beyond fractional reserve banking and say that axing the Gold Standard and having a fiat currency was the first con. Certainl

You could trace the problems back beyond fractional reserve banking and say that axing the Gold Standard and having a fiat currency was the first con. Certainly, if credit is too cheap, asset prices will rise as borrowers outbid one another to pay more. Greenspan has to shoulder a lot of the blame for the recent boom. Here in the U.K., our great leader, Gordon Brown, proclaimed "an end to boom and bust" when he became chancellor in 1997. He was right. Instead we had boom-boom-boom lasting ten years and are now going to have a bust to mirror it.