"On Wednesday she tried in vain to get Greenspan to acknowledge that deregulating the markets in 2000 allowed for an explosion of complex insurance-like products called credit-default swaps, which helped spark the collapse and rescue of insurer American International Group. Greenspan said those products weren't an issue at the time of deregulation, but Born reminded him that they became one of the principal causes of the financial meltdown in September 2008. "Are you aware that the collapse of AIG was caused by its commitments under credit-default swaps that it had issued? The taxpayer has had to bail out AIG because of its exposure to credit-default swaps to the tune of more than $180 billion," she told Greenspan. At the end of the bitter exchange, Greenspan told Born, "I really fundamentally disagree with your point of view."
I thought the principal cause was the drop in housing prices?