One thing I find in today's mass media political rhetoric is there are far too many people running around blaming people they don't know for things which clearly aren't their fault; but why is this you ask? It's because quite frankly we have too many pundits on TV who simply have no clue as to what they are talking about.
Now then, the other day an acquaintance asked me if I thought former Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan was to blame for the 2008 Economic Crash.
My answer is simple; no.
Still, I'd say it's time to set the record straight on this, so, here me out and keep reading if you disagree in your naivety.
You see, if you'd like you can roll back the tape and Congressional testimony of Chairman Greenspan when he warned about Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae, how things were getting out of control, and it didn't look right.
As a matter of fact he mentioned this several times in several different meetings.
So too did Treasury Secretary Snow during the Bush Administration, and all of this was years prior to the 2008 economic crash.
To say that no one saw it coming or that everyone was surprised is utterly ridiculous.
Now it might have been surprising that those mortgage bundles were stamped triple-A by the rating agencies, or that AIG would bother to sell insurance for their face value, or that any of the other enablers would have allowed things to get so out of hand.
But to blame Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan just doesn't make sense.
In fact, we could blame both sides of the aisle in both the House and the Senate for what had happened, and their failure to stop what was going on even when they had been forewarned many times by many different economists both in and outside of government.
Chairman Greenspan's legacy should not go down in flames for the 2008 economic crash, but it is easy to blame someone when you are a politician because politicians are such experts in the blame game arena.
Further, there is a big difference between investment banks and Federal Reserve member banks, or banks which are regulated within that system.
To blame the Federal Reserve chairman for the hanky-panky of Wall Street investment banks and deals which were going on all over the world just doesn't make sense.
There are some books I think you should read on this topic; 1.
The Age of Turbulence, by Alan Greenspan.
2.
Greenspan, by Martin.
3.
Maestro, by Bob Woodward.
It is important that you know more about how the Federal Reserve works, and what Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan was all about during his term at the helm and how he governed before you make your decisions to put him at the top of the list of those to blame for the 2008 economic crash.
Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.