Alan Greenspan
Congressional Confessions!
(CNN) -- The former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve admitted he made a mistake during his time as chair by presuming that lenders were more capable than regulators of protecting their finances, adding he was "shocked" when the system "broke down."He said that the U.S. is "in the midst of a credit tsunami," -- but that it will emerge from the credit crisis with a "far sounder financial system."
"I still do not understand exactly how it happened," he said.
Alan Greenspan, who chaired the reserve from 1987 through 2006, also added Thursday that whatever regulatory changes are made to respond to the crisis, "they will pale in comparison to the change already evident in today's markets."
Greenspan, who some analysts say did not do enough to control financial institutions during his two-decade tenure, made his comments in prepared testimony to the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee.
Fears of recession continued to cause turbulent swings in stock markets worldwide Thursday.
The U.S. Dow Jones industrial average gained around 172 points to finish at 8,691, erasing a loss of as much as 275 points.
And he backed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout approved by Congress, which allows the U.S. government to buy bad mortgage investments from finance firms or buy a stake in troubled companies.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended the day up 1.16 percent, while Germany's DAX 30 was down 1.12 percent and France's CAC 40 up 0.38 percent. Watch how the markets progress
The economic turmoil will be the focus of the two-day, 43-nation Asia-Europe Meeting, which opens Friday in Beijing, according to European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking at the EU's Beijing office Thursday.
Leaders hope this week's summit in China will help bring agreement on a response to the crisis ahead of a November 15 meeting hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.
"We need a coordinated global response to reform the global financial system. We are living in unprecedented times and we need unprecedented levels of global coordination," The Associated Press reported Barroso as saying. "It's very simple. We swim together or we sink together."
Barroso outlined no specific proposals but said a solution needed to be based on transparency, responsibility, cross-border supervision and global governance. He also said the world's financial system needed "major reform." Do we really need to rebuild, asks Charles Hodson
The current financial turmoil was sparked by the U.S. housing market collapse and a credit freeze in the United States and around the globe that is showing signs of affecting economic growth.
In Tokyo Thursday, the Nikkei declined 2.5 percent by late afternoon while South Korea's KOSPI closed down 5 percent. The All Ordinaries index in Australia declined 4.4 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 3.5 percent.
The Asian indexes declined after the Dow lost 514 points, or 5.7 percent, on Wednesday. Watch how Asian markets fall »
Amid the wild swings in both stocks and commodities over the last few weeks, "fundamentals matter very little right now" in the U.S. market, said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at Riley Asset Management.
He said that most of what is happening is being driven by traders with a very short-term perspective.
On the upside, lending rates continue to improve, as the efforts of world governments to stabilize financial markets started to kick in. But any relief about the improvement in the credit market has been overshadowed by recession fears.
"Some of these programs are starting to work, but it's going to take a while for borrowing to reach the consumer," he said.
The declines on these markets comes after the Dow Jones industrial average lost 514 points, or 5.7 percent, on Wednesday -- the Dow's seventh worst ever point loss.
"The credit crunch seems to be behind us, and we are shifting focus to corporate earnings and economic conditions, and clearly both are deteriorating," Alex Tang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi in Hong Kong, told The Associated Press.
Main Street bank Wachovia -- which is due to merge with Wells Fargo -- reported a heavier-than-expected third quarter loss of $23.9 billion.
"I still do not understand exactly how it happened," he said.
Alan Greenspan, who chaired the reserve from 1987 through 2006, also added Thursday that whatever regulatory changes are made to respond to the crisis, "they will pale in comparison to the change already evident in today's markets."
Greenspan, who some analysts say did not do enough to control financial institutions during his two-decade tenure, made his comments in prepared testimony to the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee.
Fears of recession continued to cause turbulent swings in stock markets worldwide Thursday.
The U.S. Dow Jones industrial average gained around 172 points to finish at 8,691, erasing a loss of as much as 275 points.
And he backed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout approved by Congress, which allows the U.S. government to buy bad mortgage investments from finance firms or buy a stake in troubled companies.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended the day up 1.16 percent, while Germany's DAX 30 was down 1.12 percent and France's CAC 40 up 0.38 percent. Watch how the markets progress
The economic turmoil will be the focus of the two-day, 43-nation Asia-Europe Meeting, which opens Friday in Beijing, according to European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking at the EU's Beijing office Thursday.
Leaders hope this week's summit in China will help bring agreement on a response to the crisis ahead of a November 15 meeting hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.
"We need a coordinated global response to reform the global financial system. We are living in unprecedented times and we need unprecedented levels of global coordination," The Associated Press reported Barroso as saying. "It's very simple. We swim together or we sink together."
Barroso outlined no specific proposals but said a solution needed to be based on transparency, responsibility, cross-border supervision and global governance. He also said the world's financial system needed "major reform." Do we really need to rebuild, asks Charles Hodson
The current financial turmoil was sparked by the U.S. housing market collapse and a credit freeze in the United States and around the globe that is showing signs of affecting economic growth.
In Tokyo Thursday, the Nikkei declined 2.5 percent by late afternoon while South Korea's KOSPI closed down 5 percent. The All Ordinaries index in Australia declined 4.4 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 3.5 percent.
The Asian indexes declined after the Dow lost 514 points, or 5.7 percent, on Wednesday. Watch how Asian markets fall »
Amid the wild swings in both stocks and commodities over the last few weeks, "fundamentals matter very little right now" in the U.S. market, said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at Riley Asset Management.
He said that most of what is happening is being driven by traders with a very short-term perspective.
On the upside, lending rates continue to improve, as the efforts of world governments to stabilize financial markets started to kick in. But any relief about the improvement in the credit market has been overshadowed by recession fears.
"Some of these programs are starting to work, but it's going to take a while for borrowing to reach the consumer," he said.
The declines on these markets comes after the Dow Jones industrial average lost 514 points, or 5.7 percent, on Wednesday -- the Dow's seventh worst ever point loss.
"The credit crunch seems to be behind us, and we are shifting focus to corporate earnings and economic conditions, and clearly both are deteriorating," Alex Tang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi in Hong Kong, told The Associated Press.
Main Street bank Wachovia -- which is due to merge with Wells Fargo -- reported a heavier-than-expected third quarter loss of $23.9 billion.
دعها تعمل ... أم دعها تغـرق؟
الرئيس السابق للخزانة الفيدرالية الأمريكية ينتقل من مقعد الأستاذ في الكونجرس الأمريكي ليتلقى الاتهامات بأنه أساء إدارة الاقتصاد عندما لم يستجب للتقارير التي نصحت بالتدخل لترشيد سياسات الإقراض.
آلان جرين سبان الذي جلس على مقعد رئاسة الخزانة الفيدرالية الأمريكية لمدة 19 عاماً يجلس أمام الكونجرس ليتلقى اللوم والاتهامات بعد أن كان يعد بمثابة أستاذ الاقتصاد الذي طالما حاضر الكونجرس وجلس أعضاؤه أمامه في مقاعد التلاميذ لسنوات طويلة. لقد اتهمه الأعضاء بأنه لم يقم بواجبه بالتدخل بصورة مبكرة أثناء ولايته ليمنع البنوك من التصرف طبقاً لسياسات ائتمان خرقاء.
واعترف ألان جرين سبان بأنه كان مخطئاً:
لقد ارتكبت خطأ عندما افترضت أن المصلحة الذاتية للمؤسسات والبنوك على الخصوص يمكن أن تجعل هذه المؤسسات تتصرف بشكل رشيد كفيل بحماية مصالح حملة الأسهم ... وما زلت لا أفهم أسباب الأزمة بصورة كاملة.
إن الافتراض الذي يتبناه الاناركيون (الفوضويون) والليبرتاريون المتطرفون نحو اليمين
Libertarians
بأنه على الحكومة تقليص القوانين والأجهزة التنظيمية
Regulatory Bodies
لأقصى درجة أثبت فشله تماماً مثل الجانب المتطرف على الناحية الأخرى من التطرف نحو اليسار والذي يفترض أنه على الدولة أن تتملك وسائل الإنتاج، بما يؤكد بصورة عملية أن السياسات المتوازنة الوسطية
Centrist Economic Policies
وسياسات الطريق الثالث الاقتصادية
Third Way Policies
التي توازن بين السوق الحر وتدخل الدولة من خلال أجهزة التنظيم وتبني السياسات التحفيزية لقيادة الاقتصاد نحو نقاط الاتزان الطبيعية بعيداً عن الوقوع في الأزمات العنيفة، العميقة والطويلة التي تنتج من التسيب المفرط و أن فكرة "دعها تعمل" إن لم تتوازن معها سياسات اقتصادية رشيدة إنما تتحول إلى "دعها تخرب"، أو دعها تغرق.
