Christian Women in Leadership

Alan Greenspan says US missed opp.

From the Wsj online www.wsj.com

Alan Greenspan faults the U.S.'s approach in fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying the credit crisis offered an "ideal opportunity" to dismantle the mortgage giants. The former Fed chairman predicted U.S. home prices would reach their bottom in the first half of 2009.

some more quotes,

"It's the imbalance of supply and demand which causes prices to go down, but it's ultimately the valuation process of the use of the commodity...which tells you where the bottom is," Mr. Greenspan said

"We will get to the point where there will be willing holders of vacant single-family dwellings, and that will no longer act to depress the price level."

"At the Fed, Mr. Greenspan warned for years that the two mortgage giants' business model threatened the nation's financial stability. He acknowledges that a government backstop for the shareholder-owned, government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, was unavoidable. Not only are they crucial to the ailing mortgage market now, but the Fed-financed takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. also made government backing of Fannie and Freddie debt "inevitable," he said. "There's no credible argument for bailing out Bear Stearns and not the GSEs

I'm sorry, I love the end of this article, where he's basically like, to decrease the number of single family homes available, increase immigration of skilled workers. it just sounds so simple...Greenspan 8/13/08 wsj

posted by the princess @ 8/13/2008 05:17:00 PM