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Now he starts having ideas. I did not hear him make a peep when the largest and most problematic of these banks (Citigroup) was created and when they had to hav
by hristov 17y ago
Now he starts having ideas. I did not hear him make a peep when the largest and most problematic of these banks (Citigroup) was created and when they had to have a complete overhaul of the nations banking laws to create that particular bank. No, he actively supported the new laws intended to create citigroup and which also resulted in another bunch of oversized financial institutions including AIG.
And later he guaranteed bank profits by lowering interest rates whenever banks were in just a little bit of trouble. The inevitable result was an asset bubble and rates so low that when we had an actual crisis, the fed could not do anything.
But now, when he is out of power, he finally figures out that the existence of banks that are so large and powerful that they can get the government to ensure their profitability might not be good for the free market after all. Good job!
- unalone 17y agoHe did apologize profusely and say that his beliefs had been proven irrevocably wrong. I'm willing to cut the guy some slack, even if he did fuck up on a level most people aren't allowed to fuck up on.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- fnid 17y agowhere did he apologize? Link?
- sown 17y agoHe never really apologized This blog sums it up: http://greenewable.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/greenspan-about-as-close-to-an-apology-as-well-probably-get/ http://greenewable.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/greenspan-about-... and http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=bc863544-b90f-4eda-bafb-ecd9ae0f77ef http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=bc863544-b90f-4e...
- pg 17y agoBetter to admit his mistakes than never to. Nearly all government officials make mistakes. What fraction admit them? Whatever minuscule n% do, he's in the (100-n)th percentile.
- johnnybgoode 17y agoThe problem is, he hasn't actually admitted his biggest mistakes. As far as I know, he has never taken responsibility for the credit and housing bubbles.
- cheriot 17y agoThere's little doubt his loose monetary policy contributed. That said, those bubbles could never have been as severe without wall street's catastrophicly optimistic pricing models and reckless lending practices. Wired has a good description of how pricing models contributed at http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=all http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?curr...
- hristov 17y agoI suppose that it is a very small fraction of politicians that admit their mistakes because I did not believe Greenspan did. But after some googling, I have to concede that you are right he did actually admit his mistakes, in a congressional hearing no less. So maybe I should not have been that harsh on him. Although it would have been nicer if he was more cautious while he was at the FED. Oh, and thank you for reminding me of grad school entrance exams :).
- brown9-2 17y agoIt's called "attempting to rehab your image". Let's not assume it is a genuine belief.