[Fvmfrctt]

No one could have predicted this this mess? Well, he's right. Except for all the people that were, you know, predicting this mess, no one could have predicted this mess.

...

What an asshat.

[IteseFrusty]

This is rich, coming from a guy who laid the foundations for the crisis.

[Illisezek]

The panel chairman, Henry Waxman, criticised Mr Greenspan's approach to mortgage regulation while he was Fed chairman. The Fed "had the authority to stop the irresponsible lending practices that fuelled the sub-prime mortgage market," Mr Waxman said, but Mr Greenspan "rejected pleas that he intervene". **** Waxman. Congress had a hell of a lot more ability to curtail the irresponsible lending in the sub-prime mortgage market than the Fed did. Why aren't the *******s in Congress willing to take their share of the blame like Greenspan is?

[uaodnabnjz]

I predicted the economy would start to crash in 2008, but for a different reason. I may have been right, but it's hard to tell because the stock market is crashing anyway.

[PetrZimin]

Let's see... the city of Cleveland saw that there was a housing crisis in 1996, and people were mentioning the housing bubble and subprime loans in 2002. Combined with increased deregulation and the fact that the only real market for investment was housing...

yep, it's hard to see it coming.

[Tjfyojlg]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Predicting with mathematical models? I did not need a mathematical model.

No domestic manufacturing + profits of investing going into foreign countries + increase in the housing market = not balanced.... something is off somewhere and a big economic shakeup is imminent.

This is something I realized 4 years ago.

The very idea of taking crappy mortgages, combining them with good ones and then selling them as a package sounds fishy, the first time someone explained that to me I sort of looked at them funny.

[Cyzkrahu]

With loose monetary policies our system was awash in cash searching for some way to be used profitably. There was a lot more real estate then quality stocks and bonds put together. So speculators flooded in thus the bubble.

[CowextetleSix]

Isn't it funny how quickly oil prices have rolled back in the past few weeks? Has demand slackened that much? Shouldn't the market be experiencing some push in theopposite direction in response to demand for heating oil?

I wonder to what extent the super high price of oil is reponsible for this current crisis? Now that the world economy is crashing the powers that be figure they've milked the cow for all she's worth, so they're slacking up until the cow regains her health again.

[ffdfriendforurr]

Kudos to Greenspan for at least admitting error. That's more than many culpable people have done.

Holy ****! Apolyton is working properly for me for the first time in months. Did somebody fix something?

-Arrian

[VioletttaJosetta]

Of course OPEC is doing that. What do you expect them to do? They're a cartel. They exist for that purpose.

-Arrian

[unapelosina]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Isn't it funny how quickly oil prices have rolled back in the past few weeks? Has demand slackened that much? Shouldn't the market be experiencing some push in theopposite direction in response to demand for heating oil?

I wonder to what extent the super high price of oil is reponsible for this current crisis? Now that the world economy is crashing the powers that be figure they've milked the cow for all she's worth, so they're slacking up until the cow regains her health again. Oil was another bubble. That's why the price is coming down do fast. If the price comes down too fast it will cause more problems. So in that way it would contribute.

[arriftell]

Originally posted by Darius871
Why is it that I keep hearing this line, even from someone as smart as Bill Clinton? Even supposing there was "no other place" to invest in the U.S. than in real estate, aren't there ample investment returns in myriad overseas investments? If you've got capital you can always find a good rate of return somewhere without feeling "forced" to gamble on subprime garbage... With loose monetary policies our system was awash in cash searching for some way to be used profitably. There was a lot more real estate then quality stocks and bonds put together. So speculators flooded in thus the bubble.

Exactly. The housing market was the best deal in town, with higher returns. So in came the capital.

[ovH9wfSJ]

Originally posted by Vesayen
I did not need a mathematical model.

No domestic manufacturing + profits of investing going into foreign countries + increase in the housing market = not balanced.... something is off somewhere and a big economic shakeup is imminent.

This is something I realized 4 years ago.

The very idea of taking crappy mortgages, combining them with good ones and then selling them as a package sounds fishy, the first time someone explained that to me I sort of looked at them funny. My prediction was not as good as it should have been.

I predicted problems when the depression-era regulations on banks were jettisonned in favor of a new "free market."

Later, I predicted problems from the Four Horsemen of Deficit: Housing Bubble, Credit Bubble, Budget Deficit and Trade Deficit.

But I never linked my two predictions together.

(And problems from the budget and trade deficits have yet to hit in their full horror.)

So in the words of Pres. Clinton, "Close, Monica, but no cigar."

[ARKLqAZ6]

Originally posted by Agathon Commodity fetishism?

[Nidsstese]

Originally posted by Agathon Nah, what's going on now is a mere hiccup compared to what that guy predicted, different in not only degree but in nature. Give it some time.

[leyliana]

Originally posted by Darius871
Why is it that I keep hearing this line, even from someone as smart as Bill Clinton? Even supposing there was "no other place" to invest in the U.S. than in real estate, aren't there ample investment returns in myriad overseas investments? If you've got capital you can always find a good rate of return somewhere without feeling "forced" to gamble on subprime garbage...

Apparently not. In 2000, there was $36 trillion available for investment world wide. By 2006, there was $70 trillion available. Unless the number of possible good investments doubled in that period, no, there was no better place to put your money than in the subprime market.

[finnmontserrat]

Originally posted by Vesayen


OPEC is having a meeting and the agenda is to decrease production to sure up oil prices.

For the love of..... right. I am throwing all of my liberal ideas out of the window, rednecks, pick the next sandy place to bomb. Again demonstrating why you suck as a human being.

[purchasviagra]

Originally posted by Agathon


Oh look everyone, it's another one of those Austrian economics kooks. You know the ones - the nutters who spammed internet polls for Ron Paul and who vandalize Wikipedia to make sure that there is a reference to their kook theory on every page. Undoubtedly your ad-hominem will have a significant psychological impact on the reader, as socially stigmatic arguments often do. However, it has no intellectual or reasoned value whatsoever.

[fujitsusi]

Originally posted by HalfLotus
The Austrian School of economics predicted the crises. They are the classic free-market economists (in the Adam Smith tradtition.)

They have been critical of Keynesian/Marxists economics for decades, but few listen. Perhaps because our university system and think tank 'experts' have all been raised on the fallacies of Keynesian Socialism. I mean this in the intellectual sense, not the 'omg commies are everywhere' sense.

And there are approximately 6000 years of monetary history which teach us that fiat currencies do not work in the long run. Central banking (a tenet of Marxism) has also been a historical failure.

These economic systems are, however, very good at one thing - transferring wealth into the hands of a few banking barons and their political stooges.

There is a long history of financial rape conducted by central banks and governments. You civ players ought to heed Jefferson's wisdom, "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." It's no joke.

My suggestion would be to turn off the boob tube and head on over to Mises.org. How do you explain the various panics of the 19th century (pre-Keynes. Some pre-Marx), then?

-Arrian

[*Playergirl*]

Why not? What else you wanna do?

-Arrian