There is a direct route from power to disaster: it’s called ideology. From the horse’s mouth:
“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief.”
Alan Greenspan admitted in October 2008 that there was a “flaw” in this “ideology”. Now, that is a tautology. He mounted a defense of this last 25 years as Fed chairman based on two axis:
– The scale of the crisis was much bigger than the room of maneuvre of the regulator
– Forecasting is futile: nobody could have prevented the housing bubble and the criminal activities of the banks in the US