Cynical-C Blog

Ya think?

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami” has engulfed financial markets and conceded that his free-market ideology shunning regulation was flawed.

“Yes, I found a flaw,” Greenspan said in response to a grilling from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “That is precisely the reason I was shocked because I’d been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”

Greenspan said he was “partially” wrong in opposing regulation of derivatives and acknowledged that financial institutions didn’t protect shareholders and investments as well as he expected. Forecasting is an inexact science, he said.

“If we are right 60 percent of the time in forecasting, we are doing exceptionally well; that means we are wrong 40 percent of the time,” Greenspan said. “Forecasting never gets to the point where it is 100 percent accurate.”

From The Simpsons:

Smooth Jimmy Apollo: [explaining his poor prediction]

Well, folks, when you’re right 52% of the time, you’re wrong 48% of the time.