Pour Greenspan, c’est pire qu’un grand désarroi, il avoue qu’il ne sait pas ce qui a causé la crise et admet que son modele économique qu’il croyait infaible ne fonctionne pas.


"As I wrote last March, those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief... Such counter-party surveillance is a central pillar of our financial markets’ state of balance. If it fails, as occurred this year, market stability is undermined."

"I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms," Mr. Greenspan said.

Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added : "I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact."

Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. "In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working," Mr. Waxman said.

"Absolutely, precisely," Mr. Greenspan replied. "You know, that’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well."


"My question for you is simple : Were you wrong ?" Waxman said.

Greenspan said his mistake was in presuming that it was in the self-interest of banks and other financial institutions to best protect their shareholders.

"The problem here is something that looked to be a very solid edifice ... did break down. And I think that, as I said, shocked me. I still do not fully understand why it happened." Greenspan said.

 
Aura-t-on droit a un mea culpa des ultra liberaux et libertarians français ?