Posted on 10/24/2008 3:05:20 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said on Thursday the credit crisis had exceeded anything he had imagined and admitted he was wrong to think that banks would protect themselves from financial market chaos.
“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organisations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders,” he said.
In the second of two days of tense hearings on Capitol Hill, Henry Waxman, chairman of the House of Representatives, clashed with current and former regulators and with Republicans on his own committee over blame for the financial crisis.
Mr Waxman said Mr Greenspan’s Federal Reserve – along with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Treasury – had propagated “the prevailing attitude in Washington... that the market always knows best.”
Mr Waxman blamed the Fed for failing to curb aggressive lending practices, the SEC for allowing credit rating agencies to operate under lax standards and the Treasury for opposing “responsible oversight” of financial derivatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
his mistake was creating too much easy money
Never mind those soulless pit vipers on the banking committee, like Frank and Dodd, who take bribes and block reform.
One reason we don't (shouldn't) concentrate power.
That’s exactly the core of the problem right there. Centralized banking is good for bankers- and not much else.
I listened intently to the end of the first hearing a couple of weeks ago, when it became apparent that mr nostrilitis was not about to implicate the democrat party in any way, and as committee chair he has the power to do it, not only that but committed to doing it, after ample evidence to the contrary. If every ash hole in congress was voted out of office, there would be precious few left to govern, and that my friends would be the best news yet.
Vacate the capital the Whitehouse and the Supreme court, for one year, leaving the bureaucrats to cut SS checks etc, and just see how we do under present law. My guess is the MM would go broke in six weeks, with absolutely nothing to talk about, we the people could get on with our lives without the interference of the MM telling us what to believe, and the military would continue what they do best.
no, he’s not blaming himself. He’s blaming the banks and other institutions.
Oh, that’s OK. No problem. Thanks for telling us, though. Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?
no, he’s not blaming himself. He’s blaming the banks and other institutions.
Gosh the minute I begin giving credit to a moderate (he could be worse than moderate but not sure)...they always disappoint.
Unfortunately, CONgress wouldn't listen to efforts to tighten up, especially after the 2006 elections. To quote Barbara Boxer, "Elections have consequences!"
It would be great to kick every single one of them out of Congress and the White House. Unfortunately that isn’t going to happen without a revolution of some sort. I would prefer all right leaning states band together to either cede from the nation or to come up with a referendum to limit the powers of the federal government. Imagine 15+ states, Florida and Texas included, wanting to cede from the nation. Washington might just break down and be more responsible. Then we would just have to retrain the millions of apathetic, uneducated, and lazy government workers who waste our time.
Never saw a bond market he didn’t like. A bunch of debt lovers.
That just might happen, in the event of an Obama presidency, under the direction of the military (assuming that we still have a few warriors left in the Joint Chiefs).
This isn't a mistake. Everyone will always be motiviated by self interest all the time based on the information available to them. The real mistake is in assuming that you know exactly what is motivating someone else. Greenspan didn't realize what a big role that 'making their lending practices conform to the far left's view of fairness' played in the decision making of bankers.
Thanks Idiot and thanks for your selfsame wife.
Henry Waxman is a boor.
America has fairly frequent and regularly scheduled revolutions, though we call them elections. Ordinary people get to throw the bums out or keep the bums in.
The biggest mistake anyone can make is to believe for a second that any of these men—Waxman, Greenspan or any of the rest—know more than the individual citizen about what’s best for the economy.
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