For inscrutable Al, that's pretty darn close.

My 100 word version:

The fall of communism opens up new labor markets who’s biggest export was deflation. Developing countries saved too much driving global long term interest rates to record lows, fueling a speculative bubble. Central banks raised short term rates, but to no avail, long term rates driven by market. For years market mispriced (risk of) mortgage debt, then suddenly reset risk premium, seizing credit markets worldwide. You lose your house.

You wrote:
"But not 'minor'?"

I don't find the word "minor" in the linked article.

Did Greenspan actually _deny_ minor, or did you inappropriately use quotationmarks, which may have effectively set up a strawman in the minds of many?

Thats the billion dollar question here... does the US take down BRIC. I doubt it. Brazil really is just RIO and PBR. The weak dollar is starting to hurt RIO, not the same case with PBR. Time will tell. Iron ore is priced in dollars, what happens if they convince the chinese to pay up for Iron ore and then the dollar rallies? Just a possible bullish scenario for RIO. That may be why it hangs in there.

I'm no fan of Greenspan. His keeping fed funds rate at 1% for so long was no doubt partially contributed to what has been happening. But let's face it: was he solely responsible for all these things? Please. Don't be so naive. What about the misjudgment and greed of millions and millions of speculators and flippers around the world, including the Wall Street predators?

So the Fed is supposed to do all these things that Wall Street and other investors/speculators expect them to do to keep the economy humming along and everyone happy. Now they complain that the Fed was irresponsible for not acting like their parents to advice and/or prevent them from doing the wrong thing.

Where were all these people that criticized Greenspan when things were doing well before the stock bubble burst and before the housing bubble crashed ? Instead, he was the "greatest Fed chairman", the "Maestro" that saved us from crisis to crisis, the one who's responsible for all these great things that happened to the economy.

The Greenspan's put was just the catalyst, not the real cause of all these troubles that we're experiencing. The cause was the insatiable greed and herd mentality/predatory practices of Wall Street, and other stock investors/speculators and house flippers that took advantage of low rates and their victims' trust and gullibility.

Those speculators that currently whine about Greenspan and the Fed should wake up and look at themselves in the mirror. Had he tried to raise rates aggressively to stop the stock market bubble, or listened to Gramlich and started cracking down on predatory lending, these same people would have bemoaned: "he caused the economy and stock/housing markets to grind to a halt", or so to that effect.

As it's become obvious, Wall Street and the housing/mortgage predators, after praising Greenspan and the Fed for helping them prosper during good times, now are lamenting that he was the cause for their downfall, and expect the next Fed to come to their rescue. Stop behaving like dumb cry babies. These are the greedy parasites that want to privatize profits and socialize losses.

These predators are like misbehaved children who want their parents to give them freedom to do what they want, because they think they are responsible grown-ups and don't need supervision, and will resent their parents at any hint of disapproval. But as soon as things go wrong, they bemoan that their parents fail to warn them of the danger and consequences of their actions.

But even warning may not be enough. Did "irrational exuberance" succeed in stopping them from continuing with excessive speculation? No. Did I ever hear any of these bastard say: "Greenspan should have controlled our greed, or punished us speculators by raising rates aggressively to stop the bubble from forming?

Of course not: "He's wonderful for keeping the economy and stock market going. The housing market is on fire", etc. But as soon as things begin to sour: "Didn't Greenspan see that it was a bubble? He didn't do anything to stop it to prevent our pain now. He created the mess."

I don't like the fact that Greenspan hasn't admitted that he was at least partially responsible for the recent crises. But to blame the guy for all these things is equally childish. Is the word "accountability" reserved only for Greenspan? He can say the same thing about these fans-who-become-critics predators: Not Me! Greenspan! The Fed! Other people's greed and speculation! The rest of the world! Not Me!

4. Comment by rob -- December 16, 2007

maniac rob fucker, if u give a child a new ps 3 machine would he take it or say no i should spend my time studying? no central banker in the world except japan has rates at 1% what was the use of keeping rates so low???