agree with cannyonman's views above... as for greenspan or even the treasury for that matter, scapegoats, punching balls etc are just convenient things to have for a bad day... perhaps worth considering that had greenspan not lowered short-term rates after the internet bubble burst 1) the mkt wld have crashed way more, not just correct a bit as it did, 2) the US would probably still be in a recession as we speak and so wld the rest of the world... he's basically managed to avoid, or defer, whats better explained here for instance: http://www.prudentbear.com/archive_comm_article.asp?category=Guest+Commentary&content_idx=23343 as for the treasury, its well worth watching what they are doing to steepen the yield curve... its no easy task you know... also one where we are sorely missing a great communicator who cld explain enough of the general concepts so people with inadequate resources wldn't go into IO-type loans... but in the meantime...
Real culprits; BOJ & MOF. Printing money faster than it can be spent is a bad thing. Taking that money and buying 3.5% to 4.5% us t-notes is even worse. That money printed over the past several years has found its way into every hedge fund and bank portfolio in the world. not enough good investment opportunities so it gets parked in fixed income, including MBS, lowering mortgage rates, people buy houses, housing prices rise, people buy more houses because they think that prices go one way. The guy that can't afford the house he's in, just found a way to get the plasma screen TV he's been eyeing, and the wife loves the Escalade she can't park, all with an IO cash-out refi from some local mortgage broker. All this on a part-time wage from the Home Depot. There's too much paper money. Its worthless. Use it to heat your home next winter. This is showing signs of coming to a close. All asset prices are inflated. (Funny thing is we've hedonically adjusted CPI down so the tax revenues can cover the adjusted payouts of social security and and all the other social schemes.) With the new Smoot - Hawley gang in Washington it is confirmed. We are repeating 1929. (and will repeating the following 15 years as well as xenophobic as the west is becoming, let's hope i'm wrong)
I take offense to that statement. I am no drunken sailor but will take all the cheap wine and loose women I can get my hands on.
the better question is how can a man that has engineered the two biggest bubbles in history, get such a good report after leaving?
You could try a search engine. But just off the top of my head. Florida Real Estate Bubble & Burst in early 1920s, US RE bubble in early 1990s, Japan's 1980s huge RE & economic bust which has last for almost 20 years. There are many many local occurences but in those cases RE is very fragile and dependent on a few key establishments to support the economy. A big corporation or factory going bust or moving from a small town can devastate its economy and real estate.