http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-euromood20-2008sep20,0,7535469.story They list greed and Greenspan among the culprits, and there are comparisons to . . . Albania. But amid the gloating, there is fear for financial systems in Britain, Spain, Italy and elsewhere. By Sebastian Rotella and Janet Stobart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers September 20, 2008 LONDON -- It's a rare day when finance officials, leftist intellectuals and ordinary salespeople can agree on something. But the economic meltdown that wrought its wrath from Rome to Madrid to Berlin this week brought Europeans together in a harsh chorus of condemnation of the excess and disarray on Wall Street. The finance minister of Italy's conservative and pro-U.S. government warned of nothing less than a systemic breakdown. Giulio Tremonti excoriated the "voracious selfishness" of speculators and "stupid sluggishness" of regulators. And he singled out Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with startling scorn. Full coverage: Financial system in..."Greenspan was considered a master," Tremonti declared. "Now we must ask ourselves whether he is not, after [Osama] bin Laden, the man who hurt America the most. . . . It is clear that what is happening is a disease. It is not the failure of a bank, but the failure of a system. Until a few days ago, very few were willing to realize the intensity and the dramatic nature of the crisis." In an interview Thursday in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Tremonti drew a comparison to corruption-ridden Albania in 1997, when a nationwide pyramid scheme cost hundreds of thousands of people their savings and ignited anarchic civil conflict. "The system is collapsing, exactly like the Albanian pyramids collapsed," Tremonti said. "The idea is gaining ground that the way out of the crisis is mainly with large public investments. . . . The return of rules is accompanied by a return of the public sector." On the other end of the political spectrum, among leftists who have long predicted calamity for what they call the "savage neoliberal capitalism" of Wall Street, there were gleeful allusions to the stock market crash of 1929. "Between the dread of a world in the midst of collapsing and the shiver of pleasure that finally something serious is happening to the kingdom of liberalism, how to orient oneself?" Eric Aeschimann wrote Thursday in the newspaper Liberation, a voice of French intellectuals whose disdain for capitalism persists in the 21st century. Expressing nostalgia for "the good old days when bankers jumped out of windows," Aeschimann condemned as "extortion" the rescue of U.S. corporate giants by the very state that free-marketeers resent. But fear accompanied gloating. The crisis threatens to worsen woes -- inflation, unemployment, weak growth -- of regional powerhouses including Britain, Spain and Italy. Joaquin Almunia, an ideologically moderate Spanish Socialist who is the European Union's economic commissioner, offered a simple analysis.
For years (and enduring much criticism) I said "GreenScam is the biggest financial criminal in the history of civilization"... The Queen "knighted" him... SHOULD HAVE INDICTED HIM!!
Ron Paul just said it like it was again just now on CNN. Greenspan is a sham - he invented the dream of "greener grassing" - and let it all blow up the air inside people's head instead of occupying their skulls with heavy, dense grey matter. Greenspan made people so "light-headed" that they lost contact with the ground! Only now the lights are turned on, and people realize it's a looooong way down.
Leave it to the LA Times to bring out the crap of the world to come and comment on the U.S. Italy hasn't had an economy in 50 years. As far as Greenspan being as dangerous as Bin Laden. Bin Laden and Greenspan are a product of the corrupt Washington Plutocracy maintained in power year after year by us. A democracy is only as good as the people who vote. It should say something about us that we have exceled above all others for so long. We have hit an inflection point as critical as the civil war. But I believe the moment has come for us to step forward correct the mistakes and build a more pefrect union. As long as you wake up in the morning everyday go to work , pay your taxes and vote you are just as responsible for this mess as everyone else. We loved it on the way up, don't be a hypocrite and hate it on the way down. Unfortunately this election gives us a choice between Mr. Magoo and someone who will preside over the dismantiling of what is the greatest experiment in Liberal Democracy. I think the time for more direct action is coming. We need a civil rights movement like in the 60's but for basic property rights and liberties for a return to a smaller government who should be referee and not the star player on the field.
LOL, perfect. The more I read this weekend the more I can't help thinking, if the wizards at all the financial regulators had just pulled their heads out of their asses and listened to what short sellers have been saying and doing, instead of villifying, and crucifying them, they would have been able to act in a lot more proactive way. Same old problem though, they are just too fucking smart for everyone. Hubris gets American officials again. Don't like what your advesaries have to say, villify them and put em' outta business. Or just silence them by enacting laws that don't allow them to add balance to the system. America was supposed to be founded on a system of checks and balances I thought. LOL, bullshit! Looks more and more like a one-way street to me............ a one-way street with a dead end.
Guys, come on. Aren't we going a bit overboard with this Greenspan stuff. The bottom line is excessive leverage which led to excessive risk. This has nothing to do with Greenspan and everything to do with executives at these firms who clearly didn't understand what they were getting into. Just blindly seeing profit without regard to risk. Its no different than a newbie trading 20 contracts with his thousand dollar account. No matter how good the system, he will blow up.
Are you kidding?! You know about the Patriot Act I & II, waterboarding, night-flying extraordinary rendition shuffling people around the world to be "questioned" and you have seen how the US police handled protesters at the GOP convention, right?
I call major league BS on this statement. For a person who has been staunchly opposed to most of the crap coming from our broken government, your statement is a slap in the face. For a person who actually has some financial responsibility to not go out and buy a McMansion, your words are fighting words. So basically what I'm saying is you are completely wrong.