Looks like me and many others were spot on with this whole subprime mortage debacle that plunged us into the recession.....out of the mouths of babes" Actual Testimony Transcript "Of far greater importance to the surge in demand, the major U.S. government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pressed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development1 and the Congress to expand “affordable housing commitments,” chose to meet them in a wholesale fashion by investing heavily in subprime mortgage-backed securities. and retained on investors’ balance sheets during 2003 and 2004.2 That was an estimated five times their share of newly purchased and retained in 2002, implying that a significant proportion of the increased demand for subprime mortgage backed securities during the years 2003-2004 was effectively politically mandated, and hence driven by highly inelastic demand. The enormous size of purchases by the GSEs in 2003-2004 was not revealed until Fannie Mae in September 2009 reclassified a large part of its securities portfolio of prime mortgages as subprime." Actual Testimony Transcript
Not one reply? I would have at least expected the usual diatribe of insults or poor attempts at mockery.....I must say I am a little dissappointed.
I liked Greenspan better in the Fall of 2008 when he was panicked into telling the truth about how the financial markets cannot regulate themselves. Now he is back to his libertarian ideology. Naturally is is being personally defensive about his love of deregualtion of the banks which contributed greatly to the mess. He is trying to blame others.
