>>Rather than heading off the bubble by raising margin requirements, rates, reserve requirements, or some other move, he instead did the exact opposite and fed the monster with easy money until it was so bloated it had to be killed. <<
Mlsoft. I agree with much of what you said. Just think- if the market was controlled and irrational exuberance was reigned in, today we could have been looking at today's levels as new high levels and would have been quite happy with that. Back in 1993, Harry Dent, who wrote "The Great Boom Ahead" saw a Dow at 8500 in 2007. At the time, most thought he was nuts. If Greenspan would have stepped in when he was suppose too, we could have been very content with just a gradual climb to current levels. Much better for the economy to slowly march the Nas up to 1400 than take it through the route of getting to 5000 with a guaranteed return ticket.
I remember a poster saying back in 1999 that 50 years from now economic students would be looking back at those bubble years and wondering what we must have been thinking to let things get so out of hand. That's when most will accept that Greenspan looks like one of the biggest incompetent bubbas of the 20th century. I truly don't see anyway out of this mess.
Joe
