Ithaca Blog

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Alan Greenspan Says It's A Funky, Funky System

The Financial Crises Inquiry Committee met this morning in Washington to focus on the subprime mortgage crises and the attendant collapse of many banks and other institutions, and the financial ruin for untold numbers of Americans.

Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the whole thing, was there to make plenty of sense of it.

But he fell a little short of expectations.

The NY Times summed up his statements thusly: he "warned that preventing future crises would be nearly impossible."

How many degrees does a guy need to come up with a prescription like that?

It makes us wonder who ghosted his initial job application, way back when.

One lesson for us is not to trust experts who run big institutions. In the event they even know the right thing to do, they probably won't do it anyway, if it closes any doors on fast profit.

Instead, cast your lot with people you know and can trust. In Ithaca, we are lucky to have such opportunities, in the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, and the Ithaca Hours currency system. Check them out on the web. And put some good distance between yourself and guys like smart Al.

Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog

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