Greenspan the “Ex-Maestro”
By Barry Ritholtz - March 21st, 2011, 10:52AM
Krugman gives us our QOTD:
“Greenspan is an ex-Maestro; his reputation is pushing up the daisies, it’s gone to meet its maker, it’s joined the choir invisible.
He’s no longer the Man Who Knows; he’s the man who presided over an economy careening to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — and who saw no evil, heard no evil, refused to do anything about subprime, insisted that derivatives made the financial system more stable, denied not only that there was a national housing bubble but that such a bubble was even possible.”
I love that . . .
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Previously:
Alan Greenspan on the Dunning–Kruger Effect (March 19, 2011)
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March 21st, 2011 at 11:11 am
“Greenspan is an ex-Maestro; his reputation is pushing up the daisies, it’s gone to meet its maker, it’s joined the choir invisible.
Or…..as AC/DC would put it……
It’s on the Highway to Hell
March 21st, 2011 at 11:12 am
Tripped the light fantastic… bleedin’ demised. :-)
March 21st, 2011 at 11:23 am
Paul Krugman left out one of Greenspan’s most outrageous errors: while lobbying for the Bush tax cuts, Greenspan justified them with the thought that it would be a bad thing if the surpluses persisted for so long that there weren’t any treasuries to use as benchmarks. Doesn’t that seem like it would be a nice problem to have?
March 21st, 2011 at 11:24 am
Pot/kettle from K?
March 21st, 2011 at 11:30 am
a pitiful laughable figure
sounds a lot different than Oct 2008
“i was in a state of shocked disbelief !”
“we are in a credit tsunami!”
“i found a flaw…(in my reasoning)
His announced conundrums are multiplying
i count at least 3, but every shortfall from market perfection is his conundrum.
a serial desperate example of Galbraiths first law of economists, roughly
faced with the choice of changing ones mind or justifying position…….they get right to work on the latter.
March 21st, 2011 at 11:31 am
Ah, but Andrea Mitchell IS still Mrs. Maestro.
March 21st, 2011 at 11:31 am
… taking a well-deserved dirt nap.
Unfortunately, the underlying nonsensical philosophy that helped form his mistaken beliefs is still alive and kicking.
March 21st, 2011 at 11:39 am
People did pick up on the Python “Dead Parrot Sketch” allusion, yes?
March 21st, 2011 at 11:47 am
It is sort of amazing that Greenspan doesn’t understand that after having wrecked the economy with his incompetence he does no longer have the Maestorial podium from where to lecture the mere mortals.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Not nearly strongly enough worded statement.
From the early days of running the commission that enabled changes to Social Security (and impoverishing million retirees) through his tenure at the Fed highlighted by the “Greenspan Put”, constant bail-out of stock speculators, CFMA, repeal of Glass-Steagal, and support for unfunded tax cuts, Greenspan proved to be a right-wing political extremist, a true servant to the GOP, a devout follower of a utopian worldview, as well as one of the worst economic forecasters, the one who completely neglected his duties as a central banker, the one who more than anyone else enabled the current crisis and the level of deficit the country is facing.
He’s always (even now) put politics and ideology over the facts, common sense, and prudent banking regulations. That’s his legacy, as one of the worst central bankers in memory
March 21st, 2011 at 12:15 pm
byte me is dead right
most of the academic economists form his clacque, and miseducate our young’uns.
i asked an entire table of GW econ recent advanced econ graduates if they learned anything sensible about what just happened. Uhhh no.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Oh let’s face facts… the “truly” laughable figures in all of this are the corporate officers who represent the so called “creditors”.
Here’s what happened in a nutshell on a much “smaller” level.
Money got loose so everybody got into the extending credit to lots of people game. Then they got cold feet.
Then they got repaid. THEN they repaid the fed. Then they blamed it on the consumer. Then they sat back expecting to get future revenues from new business.
No new business has come through the door, and now it’s the consumer’s fault again. Actually I’m about 6 months late on this anyway because now that things are “somewhat” rosier again, the consumer actually IS coming back in full force, which is in turn driving earnings , which is pumping up equity prices and around and around we go… where we stop nobody knows.
Best part is you can go out and get free money on lots of consumer stuff if you’re looking to buy things. One japanese automaker is pretty much giving away the farm if you’re willing to “invest” in a depreciable asset.
Just forget about housing. It’s beyond dead. And don’t count on using your house as an ATM, and you should be fine.
All those people whining because they borrowed everything and have nothing left in the holster, let them go where they belong.
Seriously, why in the world are we always looking to justify idiocy? Just let it play out. Funny thing about america is somehow someway , like a crazed alley cat , it always seems to land on it’s feet.
March 21st, 2011 at 12:28 pm
What was there to learn AHodge? The Banks control the money supply and access to it, and if you disagree with their fiscal policy, they still have the power to tank other assets you may hold.
Ok lesson learned. Don’t try to cut out the middle men. Can we move on now? LOL
March 21st, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Greenspan 2004: “…many homeowners might have saved tens of thousands of dollars had they held adjustable-rate mortgages rather than fixed-rate mortgages..”
Greenspan today: “This contrasts starkly with the robust recovery in the markets for liquid corporate securities”.
Greenspan as a contrarian indicator. Time to short corporate debt soon?
March 21st, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Every time you say his name, you give him a dollar…. or is it a kitten dies?
March 21st, 2011 at 3:09 pm
well bud
you clearly didnt learn doodley
the fed and central banks werent responsible for more than 15% of this mess which we are NOT out of. and a big part of that was not easy money
it was mainly them
presiding over a fake assets bubble bought with the money
hiding the blowup and minsky moment on Aug 8 2008
not in any way recognising we had a number of insolvent bad apples by early 2008.
rescuing all that trash in late 2008
Move on my ass
I ll laugh my ass off when you lose half your money again in say 5 years
March 21st, 2011 at 3:10 pm
make that aug 8, 2007
March 21st, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Ronald Reagan refused to reappoint Paul Volcker as Fed Chief because he wasn’t on board for financial dergulation, giving us Alan Greenspan instead, along with the S&L debacle and the Ayn Rand Fever of 2008.
March 21st, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Greenspan recommended adjustable rate mortgages to the proletariat, but when asked if he would ever have one he said “NO” When asked why not? he said, “I like certainly”
Just another hypocrite, just another one of our respected leaders with feet of clay.
As my father would say about Greenspan, ” speaks out of both sides of his mouth”
May God help us!!!!
March 21st, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Kudos to the K-Man for that riff.
Justly skewers Greenspan for negligence, and invokes Cleese in the bargain.
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:25 am
AHodge. I didn’t lose “squat”. Just had a bit of a paper loss for a short time period.
Want to know why? Because before all this happened. I owned all my assets free and clear.
The people who lost and the people who are still “losing” are those who did it all on a borrowed dime. They are paying interest on top of interest for their idiotic calls.
A guy like me. Just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round looking for dummy opportunities.
I had some “losses” in terms of opportunity cost perhaps. Other than that, business as usual.