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But he has a calming influence still to this day on Wall Street -- don't ask me why because I never understand what he's saying -- but nevertheless people respond to that Delphic oracle approach. I think it would be wise to include him. And recently he's come out and vert smartly so that we have to deal with housing and maybe we need to have some kind of buyout mechanism for mortgages. So he's moved on his understanding and depth of the problem...
-- Hillary Clinton, explaining to the Daily News editorial board on March 25, 2008 why she wanted to appoint Alan Greenspan to a high-level panel to solve the nation's economic and housing crises.
"I want to set up a committee headed by Alan Greenspan, whether he's alive or dead, it doesn't matter," he said, prompting laughter from the crowd. "If he's dead, we'll prop him up and put dark glasses on him, like in 'Weekend at Bernie's.'"
-- John McCain, proposing the same solution on Jan. 17, 2008.
See, it wasn't a Democratic thing or a Republican thing, just an inside-the-Beltway thing. As recently as March, no one was willing to admit that the emperor had no clothes:
But others hold a starkly different view of how global markets unwound, and the role that Mr. Greenspan played in setting up this unrest.
“Clearly, derivatives are a centerpiece of the crisis, and he was the leading proponent of the deregulation of derivatives,” said Frank Partnoy, a law professor at the University of San Diego and an expert on financial regulation.
The derivatives market is $531 trillion, up from $106 trillion in 2002 and a relative pittance just two decades ago. Theoretically intended to limit risk and ward off financial problems, the contracts instead have stoked uncertainty and actually spread risk amid doubts about how companies value them.
If Mr. Greenspan had acted differently during his tenure as Federal Reserve chairman from 1987 to 2006, many economists say, the current crisis might have been averted or muted.
There's not much to add here, beyond a) Read the entire New York Times story, which is excellent, if maybe a few years late and b) pray for some new leadership in D.C. that will think outside of the box, expecially when it's a wooden "Weekend at Bernie's" box.
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