Free-money wombat, Alan Greenspan's most ridiculous quote so far:
- "Low rates did not encourage risky lending..."
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is the lead witness at the first of three days of hearings by the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC). He discussed his decision to keep interest rates at low levels and stated that he thinks this did not cause the riskly lending practices that took place. The 10-member panel is examining the causes of the 2008 financial markets meltdown.
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Watch Live Coverage on C-Span (includes self-updating transcript) >>
Greenspan's Prepared Statement >>
Hearings Schedule And Witness List >>
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The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission holds a hearing titled, "Subprime Lending and Securitization and Government-Sponsored Enterprises." The bi-partisan 10-member Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was created by Congress and is charged with examining the causes of the financial meltdown. It is also examining causes of the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would likely have failed had they not received exceptional government assistance. As part of its inquiry, the Commission will hold a series of public hearings throughout the year including, but not limited to, the following topics: avoiding future catastrophe, complex financial derivatives, credit rating agencies, excess risk and financial speculation, government-sponsored enterprises, the shadow banking system, subprime lending practices and securitization, and too big to fail. The Commission is comprised of Chairman Phil Angelides, Vice Chairman Bill Thomas, and Commissioners Brooksley Born, Byron Georgiou, Robert Graham, Keith Hennessey, Doug Holtz-Eakin, Heather Murren, John W. Thompson, and Peter Wallison. Findings and conclusions are to be presented in a formal report to Congress and the President by December 15, 2010. Session 1: The Federal Reserve Mr. Alan Greenspan, former Chairman Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Session 2: Subprime Origination and Securitization Mr. Richard Bitner, Managing Director of Housingwire.com, Author, “Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider’s Tale of Greed, Fraud & Ignorance” Mr. Richard Bowen, former Senior Vice President and Business Chief Underwriter CitiMortgage Inc. Ms. Patricia Lindsay, former Vice President, Corporate Risk New Century Financial Corporation Ms. Susan Mills, Managing Director of Mortgage Finance Citi Markets & Banking, Global Securitized Markets Session 3: Citigroup Subprime-Related Structured Products and Risk Management Mr. Murray C. Barnes, former Managing Director, Independent Risk Citigroup, Inc. Mr. David C. Bushnell, former Chief Risk Officer Citigroup, Inc. Mr. Nestor Dominguez, former Co-Head, Global Collateralized Debt Obligations Citi Markets & Banking, Global Structured Credit Products Mr. Thomas G. Maheras, former Co-Chief Executive Officer Citi Markets & Banking