Greenspan: 'Crisis Will Happen Again'

Former Fed chairman denies responsibility, blames human nature
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2009 5:26 AM CDT
Greenspan: 'Crisis Will Happen Again'
Then-Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies on Capitol Hill in 2005.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, FILE)

Another financial crisis is inevitable "unless somebody can find a way to change human nature," says Alan Greenspan in an interview with the BBC. The former Fed chairman—who has faced stinging criticism for his own role in precipitating the 2008-09 global recession—denied any responsibility for the crisis, saying that it was "a once-in-a-century type of event." But he also complained that bankers were systematically underpricing risk and "at some point a correction would be made."

Greenspan is unimpressed by recent attempts to rein in wild markets. "The extraordinary impact of these global markets is making a lot of financial people feeling they have lost control," he said. "The problem is you cannot have free global trade with highly restrictive, regulated domestic markets." (More Alan Greenspan stories.)

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