There can be no greater misguided position than urging the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to contain damage ["Credit Crunch," August 13-20].
It was the ill-thought-out policy of low interest rates during Alan Greenspan's years as chairman of the Federal Reserve that permitted the ease of cheap credit to Wall Street and financial institutions at the expense of an unfortunate majority of citizens.
Charles L. Goldenberg
New York
People losing their homes because of inability to pay the mortgage is a real tragedy. However, some of the housing frenzy was not caused by individuals realizing their dream of buying a home due to low interest rates but by speculators buying houses that they never intended to occupy—"flippers." This has not attracted much attention but has contributed to the markup in house prices.
Barbara and David Jahsman
Sedona, Ariz.
One week it's foreign economies putting increasing pressure on the United States. The next week it's the credit crunch. One can always find something to worry about. So why not rejoice that the country presently has the lowest unemployment in years, that the market is still near record territory, and that corporate profits are up? Life is too short to continually look for the dark cloud without the silver lining.
Don Caisley
Shorewood, Ill.
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