[quote=Rich Toscano]I like sdduuuude’s answer, but I have to put Greenspam first and the ratings agencies second.
The agencies were the lynchpin to the whole mortgage crisis, so they bear huge responsibility there. However, Greenspam was asleep at the wheel for not one but two world-beating asset bubbles. No, scratch that — he wasn’t just asleep at the wheel, he was a cheerleader for both bubbles. And the mop-up from the first bubble basically created the environment that allowed the second and much worse bubble.
His “reign” was truly catastrophic and I just hope he clings to life for long enough to witness the final outcome of his legacy (the nigh-inevitable US govt funding crisis) and, if there is any justice, the resulting complete destruction of his reputation as a central banker.
Rich[/quote]
Here is a right wing DC lawyer’s take on Greenspan,etc. He wrote three major pieces of legislation that were enacted into law: the Anti-Tying Provision of the Bank Holding Company Act; the “Brooke Amendment” relating to public housing; and the national “Housing Allowance” that morphed into the Section 8 housing program.
These comments are not from an uneducated lunatic.
1. “What surprised me the most were senators and congressmen preying on young women.”
2. “Volcker seems to have thrown in the towel, and I am sorry about that because I have always admired and respected him greatly. In fact, if he had been Fed Chairman instead of Greenspan, I do not believe the credit crisis or the economic meltdown would have happened. Greenspan is the real culprit, who has admitted that he never saw the housing crisis coming”
3. “People are suffering in this country and around the world, and Greenspan is the person who caused all of this. In another country and in a different time, someone who did this would have been killed. I am surprised that Greenspan has any reputation at all, given the enormous human suffering that he is responsible for.”
“… Mr. Naegele also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal”
