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Surprised no one has put this up yet.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070913/green...ges.html?.v=18
(emphasis mine)
My comment:
After reading itulip and many other financial websites for a few years now, I had a pretty low opinion of Greenspan. When this article came out, I remembered the thread The Fed: Dishonest or Incompetent?.
My opinion of Mr. Greenspan is now considerably lower than it was even before, and my anger has grown. He is basically admitting incompetence, and not only that, this quote really struck me in the gut:
Wow. You are the head banking regulator, and you didn't do one damn thing to regulate your industry.
The thing is, I'm not completely buying the "I'm incompetent" argument. I think it was about 80% incompetence and 20% willfully turning a blind eye, meaning he knew that things could get this bad but was either too lazy, too greedy, or had some sort of business or personal interest in letting his own industry run away with excesses.
I think that he was definitely partly incompetent but there was a definite willful neglect.
In any case, I now view Mr. Greenspan at about the same level as Dan Quayle: hasn't done anything that merits jail time, but is completely irrelevant from any further financial discussion except for historical decisions.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070913/green...ges.html?.v=18
(emphasis mine)
Greenspan Acknowledges He Didn't Initially Grasp Risks of 'Subprime' Mortgages
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledges he failed to see early on that an explosion of mortgages to people with questionable credit histories could pose a danger to the economy.
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In an upcoming interview, Greenspan said he was aware of "subprime" lending practices where homebuyers got very low initial rates only to see them later jacked up, causing severe payment shock. But he said he didn't initially realize the harm they could do.
"While I was aware a lot of these practices were going on, I had no notion of how significant they had become until very late," he said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast Sunday. "I really didn't get it until very late in 2005 and 2006," Greenspan said.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledges he failed to see early on that an explosion of mortgages to people with questionable credit histories could pose a danger to the economy.
ADVERTISEMENT
In an upcoming interview, Greenspan said he was aware of "subprime" lending practices where homebuyers got very low initial rates only to see them later jacked up, causing severe payment shock. But he said he didn't initially realize the harm they could do.
"While I was aware a lot of these practices were going on, I had no notion of how significant they had become until very late," he said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast Sunday. "I really didn't get it until very late in 2005 and 2006," Greenspan said.
After reading itulip and many other financial websites for a few years now, I had a pretty low opinion of Greenspan. When this article came out, I remembered the thread The Fed: Dishonest or Incompetent?.
My opinion of Mr. Greenspan is now considerably lower than it was even before, and my anger has grown. He is basically admitting incompetence, and not only that, this quote really struck me in the gut:
Well, it was nothing to look into particularly because we knew there was a number of such practices going on, but it's very difficult for banking regulators to deal with that," Greenspan said in the interview.
The thing is, I'm not completely buying the "I'm incompetent" argument. I think it was about 80% incompetence and 20% willfully turning a blind eye, meaning he knew that things could get this bad but was either too lazy, too greedy, or had some sort of business or personal interest in letting his own industry run away with excesses.
I think that he was definitely partly incompetent but there was a definite willful neglect.
In any case, I now view Mr. Greenspan at about the same level as Dan Quayle: hasn't done anything that merits jail time, but is completely irrelevant from any further financial discussion except for historical decisions.
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