Alan Greenspan Speaks on the Financial Crisis
Rep. Henry Waxman runs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a way it hadn't been run in decades before his takeover. The California Democrat really knows how to stick the knife in and twist it. He did so today with former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who retired as a beloved figure but who has since been found extremely culpable in the current credit crisis because he promoted less government oversight over derivatives.
From Bloomberg:
"Yes, I found a flaw," Greenspan said in response to a grilling from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "That is precisely the reason I was shocked because I'd been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well."
Greenspan said he was "partially" wrong in opposing regulation of derivatives and acknowledged that financial institutions didn't protect shareholders and investments as well as he expected. Forecasting is an inexact science, he said.
"If we are right 60 percent of the time in forecasting, we are doing exceptionally well; that means we are wrong 40 percent of the time," Greenspan said. "Forecasting never gets to the point where it is 100 percent accurate."
Duh.
Thanks for telling us now, Mr. Greenspan, after Americans have lost trillions of dollars of value in investments, real estate equity, and, well, you name it. Much of that would have been avoidable if greedy mortgage brokers and Wall Street investment gurus had not been able to sell mortgages to people who could not afford them, bundle them into "derivatives," and then call AIG to sell so-called swaps or insurance policies on the bad debt.
In a May 2005 speech, Greenspan said that "private regulation generally has proved far better at constraining excessive risk-taking than has government regulation."
I'm a recovering believer in the free market. It works in many ways, such as pricing of consumer goods, most of the time. But strong regulation is de rigueur when the free market just doesn't work. You can't protect the environment without government intervention. You cannot support a strong military with a free market. And now we find out, belatedly, neither can you allow fear and greed to rule the financial world without lots and lots and lots of government intervention.
Tags: Congress | House of Representatives | Federal Reserve | Wall Street | Alan Greenspan
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Rep. Henry Waxman
I noticed Rep. Henry Waxman years ago. He is on my HERO list. We desperately need more people like him in government. He goes after corruption and incompetence, exposing it for everyone to see. I hope Obama recognizes his outstanding service to our country by giving him a related post in his cabinet. He has shown many times he is willing to challenge important people when necessary, despite the personal hardships it has caused him in the past. Many politicians are not willing to rock the boat out of fear they will fall out. He is seemingly fearless. God bless him. There is hope for our country yet.
The Worldwide DEBT is the problem.
The Worldwide DEBT is the problem.
The best solution for the present economic crisis would be a REBOOT or restart of the entire debt system for the ENTIRE WORLD.
1. A data base listing ALL DEBT, government, business and personal needs to be created. The list would need to list the debt and debt holder with a bank that could make an accounting of the debt. Included would be all national debt of all nations, all mortgages car notes and credit cards for individuals. All outstanding bond and other debt for corporations, The idea is to list ALL DEBT of any kind owed.
2 . Every government on the planet would need to call a special session of it’s legislature.
Using the same authority that governments have to use or create FIAT CURRENCY the legislatures and Central Banks need to authorize the creation of ACCOUNT CREDIT in an amount equal to all the listed debts in the world.
3. The Various governments and Central Banking Systems then need to make an accounting change equal to the debt in the form of an ACCOUNT CREDIT or CREDIT zeroing out ALL THE DEBT in the entire world, and crediting all debt-holders in the world.
The following day the economy of the entire world would restart and the Stock Markets of the world would react to the new renewed capital in the banking systems, the Capital now available to restart all business and the disposable income to the individual people would restart and grow the retail sectors and the manufacturing sectors of the entire world.
Allen Charles Report
http://allencharlesreport.blogspot.com/
Who is responsible?
The liberal illuminati politicians were responsible for overseeing Fannie and Freddie, now they're shifting the blame. It's because they want to spread the wealth and increase spending that we're in the shape we're in now.
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