Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is the worst Fed boss in history, but boy-oh-boy how we loved to watch him smile. We were so attracted to Mr. Greenspan's girlish grin, in fact, that he could say just about anything and people would eat it up: "I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said". How delightfully playful!  He really must be the world's best central banker!

But if you forget that Greenspan's charisma was intoxicating and the asset bubbles he administered enthralling, what you are left with was a man who did absolutely nothing to police the financial markets and, arguably, everything in his power to ensure that the markets were not policed.  Why would such a record of failure not be punishable or, at minimum, seriously investigated? Why indeed…

Life Continues To Be Good For Greenspan

Since leaving his post Greenspan has alluded to but not yet amassed the courage to plead forgiveness for the fact that his view of the world was completely wrong.  Specifically, Greenspan has said that his quest for self-regulation was a shortcoming, that bank capital requirements should actually be raised from time-to-time, that asset bubbles can be observed before they burst, that someone should try to police the markets, and that the Fed's actions (keying on Bernanke's not his) do relate to future inflationary pressures.  On this last topic, discussed by Greenspan only a few days ago, a sense of unbridled bafflement boils within those familiar with the teachings of Greenspan.  Quite frankly, has Greenspan miraculously been blinded by the Austrian lights?
 
"You cannot afford to get behind the curve on reining in this extraordinary amount of liquidity because that will create an enormous inflation down the road" Alan Greenspan.  October 2, 2009

Given that Greenspan's Fed lived almost exclusively behind the curve and that over nearly two-decades Greenspan never once really tried to temper the speculative manias his brand of liquidity helped induce, the above comments are amusing, to say the least.

Regardless, only a few years removed from office and Greenspan continues to contradict everything that he previously stood for.