Uncle Sam heading closer to a fresh financial meltdown April 5, 2011
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Photo: Bloomberg
The man who brought us the global financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, has spoken out on how to fix the system. Of all the advice he might give, he has given the most unexpected. In essence, he has said: "Don't even try."
In one of the most remarkable statements of our time, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve has argued that it is inherently impossible to usefully regulate a modern financial system, telling us to relax because "the global invisible hand" of the free market has created a stable economy over the longer run.
Greenspan went further. In an opinion piece in London's Financial Times, he suggested that an ever-growing and unmanageably complex financial system might even be "a necessary condition of growth".