¶ Matins: When I read yesterday’s Matins to Kathleen, she sighed and wondered if I wasn’t getting carried away about Alan Greenspan’s role in the credit crunch. For backup, I decided to search for a report of the disagreement that Mr Greenspan had with late Fed Governor Edward Gramlich. 

Gramlich, long worried about the fragility of the housing market, wanted an investigation that would close down predatory mortgage lenders. Here’s what — according to a Wall Street Journal article by Greg Ip, dated 9 June 2007 — Mr Greenspan had to say about that, last summer.

Mr. Greenspan, in an interview, says he doesn’t recall a specific discussion of the idea but confirmed his opposition to it.

There is “a very large number of small institutions, some on the margin of scrupulousness and very hard to detect when they are doing something wrong,” says Mr. Greenspan, who retired in February last year. “For us to go in and audit how they act on their mortgage applications would have been a huge effort, and it’s not clear to me we would have found anything that would have been worthwhile without undermining the desired availability of subprime credits.”

¶ Compline: How neat it would be to see this: “Paul Newman: Broadway to dim lights in actor’s honour”.

Oremus…

§ Matins. “…the desired availability of subprime credits.” I’m not entirely sure what “subprime credits” are in this context, but the statement not only looks but smells like a smoking gun of irresponsibility.

Mr Greenspan also offered Wingnut Argument Nº 1 against regulation: “Mr. Greenspan adds that borrowers might get a false sense of security from a lender that advertised itself as Fed-inspected.”

This time, perhaps, the Government can deliver us from, instead of into, evil.

§ Compline. Instead, I saw this:

Coming home from the movies, I saw a bit of commotion in the middle of 86th Street, just beyond the Second Avenue Intersection. A cyclist had apparently been struck by a taxi and thrown some distance. Passing by, I could see that he was alive, and that he could move his right arm. By the time I got to the roof, the taxi had been sent on its way, and police and medical help had arrived

Somebody’s life changed in the blink of an eye. Say a prayer.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
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