Why Greenspan Knew, But Didn’t Act

In conversation with Institute President Rob Johnson, Sebastian Mallaby - Paul Volcker Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of a new book on Alan Greenspan’s tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve - parses Greenspan’s legacy in context of the NASDAQ and sub-prime mortgage crises. Mallaby’s research shows that Greenspan knew more about the looming perils than people realize. “If he was the man who knew, why was he not the man who acted?” was the focal question of the book. One reason may be the limited tools available to the Fed.

[@MrDayinthepark]

Alan Greenspan was the perfect example of a belief system blinding someone, badly, and unrealistically. His belief system was so unrealistic that he simply ignored many obvious warning signs.

[@ShermerHighSchool]

Great interview! Thank you!

[@jameslovering9158]

Did he not admit he got it wrong ? They seem just as clueless today.

[@brianlaroche8856]

Not clueless, just conveniently "clueless"

[@RodinThink28]

The Man who had no Clue

[@MrFNWO1]

Safe to say I'll be buying the book.

[@jeromeblanchet3827]

Dynamic programming around an unknown equilibrium

[@anglosaxon7806]

love how they flirt with the idea that commercial real estate loans has anything to do with fannie and freddie which came late to the game. the stats are minuscule in comparison.

[@klam77]

I hope this book covers more of Greenspan's background as a more of a glad-hander cheerleader of people in power in finance: like his famous walk-on part in S&L collapse?

[@bassinc3039]

Another Jewish European, with untraceable back ground, escaped NAZI Germany? Probably a simple tanner?

[@SteveScapesYT]

Oh God... you read through the material PBS put together on the interaction between Greenspan and Borne, that was in no way a reasonable handling of the issues by a man prepared to part with his ideology.

[@johngalt97]

Greenspan was saxophone player who was happy to rub elbows with elites.

[@PoojaDeshpande84]

no Kindle edition available yet.... come on Amazon

[@The.world.has.gone.crazy...]

So what? Everybody knows these days and nobody really does anything. Humanity did it to itself.

[@tomrusack3266]

He didn’t let the market operate as it should, by allowing the market to fail, all of it. Greenspan looked after Wall st and his future.

[@bauron1985]

max headroom lives!

[@Nonbelieverification]

The Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac so called "marketing" example to influence congress sounds more like something a criminal organization would do.

[@Mewzyque]

The Man Who Knew. . . But not the man who acted

[@JP51ism]

See Greenspan's admission of a "flaw" in the last minute of this short 5 min. clip: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXvEiGZoj7msgac

[@JermaineMarcus]

But does the regulation they tried to introduce in 2001 come close to the deregulation of the late 80’s that allowed for the cultivation of derivatives and the trading of sub prime mortgages?

[@MacroLoco]

2017 was a epic inflation wave 🌊 2018 QT 2019 Reverse Repo Crisis 2020 Pandemic Bailout 2021 Great Inflation Part 2 2022 QT Part 2 2023 Pending…

[@scottshepard2895]

Sebastian Mallaby's book might be good & can't wait to read it. But can't buy his generous assessments of Greenspan, Rubin, Summers et al in his chat with Johnson. First, Brooksley Born fought for, didn't just 'suggest' that derivatives be regulated. The office full of top bankers fought back, not because of they thought the Congress wouldn't pass a reg bill -- that's absurd. Summers, Greenspan crushed derivatives reg. because a paper trail on deals would make the shady ones much harder to get away with; & because it would slow down an oily fast process. Second, Mallaby says Greenspan couldn't do anything ahead of time. Garbage. Greenspan put his face on TV repeatedly saying the markets were working just right as recently as 2006. So if he knew that it was a ponzi scheme, he could have testified or spoken out to say 'we've got to take action' & he would have been heard absolutely. Greenspan didn't announce the coming trouble because he did not want to prevent his Wall Street friends from collecting great return in the short term. Goldman, after all, got out just before the collapse of the housing market. Note what Shelia Bair says -- these good ol boys are either lying or protecting their friends when they say they no authority. They didn't want to cut off the money machine. Bair and Born are the only two you can trust on these sleazy tale. It is preposterous to even suggest that the Fed lacked tools. Speaking out could have been the Fed's most powerful tool. But the Fed was and is populated by MEN who either came from industry, or who were on their way back to it, and they saw the financial game as the sport of their own friends, and couldn't bear to make things difficult for them.

[@alexludavertigo6926]

oh yes he did. when did he get out 🤔🤔

[@ddacaro]

Lighting is good up until they failed to adjust it for the talent.

[@dimitardrenkarov9281]

hope the book is not too pricy to deliver in Germany

[@gye-richung789]

Dimitar Drenkarov

[@brianlaroche8856]

@@gye-richung789 ...

[@ElectricIguana]

Dustin Hoffman doing interviews now?

[@brianlaroche8856]

Wagging the dog

[@brianlaroche8856]

Coments are still on wow

[@Aethertopia369]

So he was like a puppet, unable to act on his own.

[@Battlemenof]

The failure was inevitable and visible when they sawed off financial market regulations! It was done deliberately and those who designed it got what they wanted.

[@jasonrivera1259]

Same shit today’s fed reserve board chairman. Same patterns

[@stratalounge4203]

"One reason may be the limited tools available to the Fed." Hog-wash and propaganda.

[@brianlaroche8856]

Or unlimited finds to buy hire a google # of jokers