“Greenspan said real estate prices will stabilize only when the overhang of unsold new-construction homes begins to ease, and estimated that financial losses could be in the range of $200 billion to $400 billion as securities tied to failing subprime mortgages lose value.
He warned against any sort of government bailout plan for homeowners that interfered with the normal functioning of markets for home prices or interest rates, saying it would “drag this process out indefinitely.” Offering cash to stricken homeowners instead would cause less long-term damage, he said.
“It’s only when the markets are perceived to have exhausted themselves on the downside that they turn,” he said. “Trying to prevent them from going down just merely prolongs the agony.”
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If you ask me AG got us into this mess, and he could have done something about it earlier but chose not to contrary to what he says. History will not be kind to his reign. With that said lets take a look at what he is saying, because I think many posters here would agree at some level.
“He warned against any sort of government bailout plan for homeowners that interfered with the normal functioning of markets for home prices or interest rates, saying it would “drag this process out indefinitely”
The thing being bandied about among Wall Street is the “whole enchilada” bailout. Thats when Govt steps up and takes on all the bad loans at taxpayers expense along with deep cuts in the Fed Funds rate. They want a total and complete bailout of the banks. AG is saying that is a very bad idea and I agree. IMO what AG is advocating, once you get past the stinch of the handing out Govt money part, is a…….Home Price Correction. He is advocating capitulation which is the normal functioning of the market after a bubble. Any efforts to avoid that capitulation and attempts to artificially prop up home prices will in his words “drag this process out indefinitely”. The video of Greenspan’s interview is on this link http://tinyurl.com/2h79uc. Listen carefully to what he is saying, he has been known to speak in code. If there was an either / or choice between the CNBC Ron Insana “whole enchilada” option and what AG is proposing I would choose AG’s. This is as close to defending AG as I will get. It wasn’t easy but I got through it.
