Home

Yahoo!News: Greenspan Denies Blame for Crisis, Admits “Flaw”

I am so pissed off at Alan Greenspan. This guy was hailed as freakin’ God when he was Fed Chairman for nearly twenty years and basically when he talked, everyone listened. During his tenure, the economy boomed, everything was great and wonderful and deregulation was the talk of the town. Being a believer in the free market, Greenspan resisted calls for more regulation (specifically cracking down on sub-prime mortgages and such), his belief being that the market takes care of itself. He held firm to the idea that banks and investment firms wouldn’t take such risks that would jeopardize their institutions and stockholder’s interests and equity.

WTF rock was Mr. Greenspan hiding under? Was he really and truly THAT blind during his tenure as head of the Federal Reserve, to think that some banks and investments firms, when not held back by the chains of regulation, would exercise caution when given the opportunity to get filthy stinking rich? Who the hell was he kidding?

The deregulation that occurred through the late 80’s and 90’s was like giving the keys for a Ferrari to a 17-year-old and expecting that, since they passed driver’s ed, they’d be able to handle the automobile respectfully.

Balls.

The market may very well take care of itself, if it didn’t have humans involved in it. Greed is a powerful temptress. Where there’s risk, there’s great reward. But where there are no rules, who cares about the risk? Especially when it can be packaged up and sold to somebody else…