Greenie: "Not Mea Culpa!"

I have to say I don't know what his legacy will be but I do not believe the low rates were the primary culprit. You could even argue that if they were the cause then why isn't the fed raising them. My own view is it will be years before we know what triggered the financial crisis. My suspicion however, is the proliferation of unsecured mortgages, lack of reserves on the part of the two quasi government agencies (freddie mac & fannie Mae), bundling and selling them in such a way the buyer is clueless as to what is good or bad and the failure of both government (congress, regulators) and some corporate leaders to correct it. Once the defaults start even if they are 5 or 10 percent of the total the fact is they are so widespread within the world banking system we get the collapse.

They complain that we are not savers but I am small saver, Greenspan spent years steeling from me. I put money in the bank and his policies caused this money to collect 1 or 2 percent interest while inflation was much greater causing my money to be worth less every day. Then I give the goverbment 25% of what little return I received. But to me the stock market has been sick for 30 years so I put the money in the bank anyway

did the gov just make some money? we bought citi shares if i remember correctly. didnt there price just double

It is very irresponsible and in poor taste for Greenspan to try and admit no wrong. Everything life is cause/effect, and his actions, while perhaps not entirely, did in fact contribute greatly to the fiscal downturn we've experienced.

This "latest unpleasantness" in the economy is really not caused by one man or one policy. Titanic didn't sink because of one problem. A lot of problems and a lot of not looking at those problems truthfully caused this sinking of the economy. It is further sinking because certain persons in the Democratic Party didn't think it was real enough and then talked the country into a crisis mode so as to not waste a good opportunity. We need to get REAL. We need our governing government to authentically quantify the problems and tackle them like a good disaster drill. Tag those that are dead, evac the ones that need immediate care and sort out the walking wounded. We don't need to be told that pork is good and the Air Force flying Pelosi around is right. We don't need to be told everyday that the Obama Administration is our messiah and that Barney Frank is the pre-eminent financial mind on the planet. Main Street and Wall Street should not be at war - one does not survive without the other. And the banks that are left standing should not suffer for the overt lack of regulation of the hedge funds and investment banks. Let us get back to fundamentals.

Wow! You sure are opinonated! Yet, Mr. Greenspan, with advanced degrees and deep experience in impressive institutions and centers of learning is somehow wrong in his assesment? And you 'spout' this from your degree in French Literature? Why does anyone listen to YOU?

Alan Greenspan's Legacy is one of preventing inflation from destroying the economy. The low interest federal interest rate is not the cause of the mortgage melt down. IT was cause by the abuses by some of the following parties mortgage bankers, the buyers, the high risk flippers, and the federal government not cleaning out the abuses in their quasi corporation (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac ).

Sure, low fed funds rates led to easier borrowing, but that was a good thing. There was little concern for inflation during the latter part of Greenspan's term, so he should have been pursuing a pro-growth monetary strategy. The problem was that the other checks and balances (beyond the Fed's purview) were out of whack. It's the job of mortgage lenders, having a fiduciary responsibility to their investors, to make credit worthy loans. That obviously didn't happen. Pressure put on lenders by bureacrats hell bent on persuing their social engineering agenda, to make bad loans, deserves a large share of the blame. And the stong-arming didn't have to be that strong, considering the Fannie and Freddie couldn't move fast enough to buy up these loans. Outdated accounting methods and capital requirement calculations in an era of CMO's and credit default swaps, along with a failure of the bond rating agencies to keep up with these new instuments, get the rest of the blame in my view. Eric Trabuco CA

I believe history will frown at Alan Greenspan. Already some believe he caused the housing market debacle which has shaken the markets for the past few years.

Greenspan's legacy? His tombstone should read: "His finger-pointing skills exceeded Ed Sullivan's."

Another greedy, arrogant, pompous, bumbling bureaucrate that stiffed the American taxpayer.

nonsense, the mortgage problem was solely caused by the democrats who enacted the insane no qualification deal. you must loan without reguard to credit score? income verification? ability to pay mortgage? do not blame greenie, blame clinton, frank, dodd and the rest of the wussocrats who refused to enact regs when asked in 2003, 2005. what crap you write, shame on you.