Monday, April 05, 2010

Michael Burry on Alan Greenspan

In his own words, Michael Burry recounts how he forecast the demise of the subprime market and how he made a fortune because of it . . . . disavowing any of the Alan Greenspan's ridiculous comments that no one "saw it coming". Click here for the NY Times op-ed piece.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Chairman Doth Protest Too Much

We thought that he had at last gone away
and would not again jump into the fray.
But Alan Greenspan was called to appear before an Inquiry Commission
to answer questions about his role in the financial demolition.

It soon became clear he was there his critics to roast
as he sat before the panel looking like Jacob Marley’s Ghost
While he was Fed Chairman mistakes were made he admitted
but none, he insisted, by him had been committed.

He resembled nothing so much as a sheep being shorn
when grilled by a lady named Brooksley E. Born.
She could not disguise her irritated frustration
as he refused to explain his thoughts on derivatives regulation.

When asked why he did not foresee bank after bank would crash like a felled log
he seemed to be answering through a thick fog.
But no, what happened was that the lights went off.
Was it perhaps deliberate, so he could not see the panel scoff?

His interrogators were surprised when he gave them the astounding news
that nobody had ever listened to his views.
What made him think, they wondered, he could place before their eyes
so many red herrings in disguise.

Still, Alan has not the slightest doubt about who were to blame
and he proclaimed it without even a hint of shame.
It was the East Asians he said, as he continued his raving,
who refused to stop their irrational exuberant saving.

So Greenspan is still convinced nothing he did, or did not do, was awry
as investment bankers’ victims can only cry.
If anyone about his performance a dissenting voice should raise
the Maestro can always wallow in Bob Woodward’s fulsome praise.

Phil Linehan
http://www.philitics.com