It must have been monetary immaculate conception! In a word, Alan Greenspan’s pathetic rationalizations are why we are in such monumental trouble. Moreover, the Maestro’s successors and assigns all partake in the same group think. So we are at the mercy of a serial bubble machine in the Eccles Building—which is run by a small posse of incorrigible bubble deniers.
Some day there will be an inquisition…. but in the interim here’s what he said (and what I said!)
By Mike Swanson
Alan Greenspan appeared on CNBC yesterday and declared that his monetary policies had nothing to do with the financial crisis of 2008.
He claimed that bubbles can be ok if they are “non-toxic” and that his low rate policies did not have much to do with the housing bubble and subsequent bubble in mortgages that led to the banking crisis of 2008.
He claims he had nothing to do with it.
“Despite the fact that we lowered rates, we did not have long-term rates moving down. We did not have money supply accelerating. There were no fingerprints of an easy money policy in the marketplace,”
And the CNBC “anchors” simply sat there and accepted his statement as if it was the truth.
He helped completely ruin the economy and CNBC still treats him like a god.
Why?
Because CNBC always fawns over the Federal Reserve and its reporting consists mainly of reading press releases by the government and Wall Street corporations on TV and doing zero analysis and big picture thinking. This is what passes as “news” on TV.
But the Fed is creating another bubble in the stock market and bond market right now.
As former budget director David Stockman explained in another interview:
“I think the Fed is now inflating the greatest and third bubble yet of this century,” Stockman said. “The Russell 2000, even though it’s come off a little bit, is still trading at 80 time trailing earnings. That’s crazy, and you can say that about many other sectors of the market.”
