Greenspan Quotes & Sayings

The gut-feel of the 55-year old trader is more important than the mathematical elegance of the 25-year old genius. — Alan Greenspan

There are no easy choices. Easy choices are long gone. — Alan Greenspan

We're a democratic society. Shutting down the government should not be on the agenda. — Alan Greenspan

Since 1948 I have spent every single day thinking how the economic and political worlds have changed. — Alan Greenspan

Senator, we are groping for understanding, the knowledge you assume I possess doesn't exist' - 'The only effective regulation lies in the propensity of customers to choose alternatives, of investors to move their funds elsewhere and of labour to acquire technical skills' - 'Senator, if I seem clear to you, you must have misunderstood me' - 'Unfortunately, Senator, nobody knows where the next innovative idea is coming from. Political decisions are never random and will always lose out to innovative alternatives — Alan Greenspan

While local economies may experience significant price imbalances, a national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States, given its size and diversity. — Alan Greenspan

sold to the public on false pretenses, high officials confessing to ordering torture in violation of treaty and domestic law, and an economic meltdown even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledges involved massive fraud - and no one has been prosecuted, no one has gone to prison, and Americans continue to dutifully cast their votes for the Democratic/Republican duopoly responsible for these disasters. — Barry Eisler

Anything you make in a 'normal' sized loaf pan can be made in the longer pan - you just have to increase the recipe proportionately. — Dorie Greenspan

The only sustainable way to increase demand for vacant houses is to spur the formation of new households. Admitting more skilled immigrants, who tend to earn enough to buy homes, would accomplish that while paying other dividends to the U.S. economy. — Alan Greenspan

But the trouble is that he [Alan Greenspan] had been an Ayn Rander. You can take the boy out of the cult but you can't take the cult out of the boy. — Paul Samuelson

The probability of ten consecutive heads is 0.1 percent; thus, when you have millions of coin tossers, or investors, in the end there will be thousands of very successful practitioners of coin tossing, or stock picking. — Alan Greenspan

I believe that the general growth in large [financial] institutions have occurred in the context of an underlying structure of markets in which many of the larger risks are dramatically
I should say, fully
hedged. — Alan Greenspan

At the outset of the creation of the euro in 1999, it was expected that the southern eurozone economies would behave like those in the north; the Italians would behave like Germans. They didn't. Instead, northern Europe fell into subsidizing southern Europe's excess consumption, that is, its current account deficits. — Alan Greenspan

If somebody had said to me in June or July of 1987, 'We'd like you to become chairman of the Federal Reserve, but you're never allowed to discuss any economics after you leave,' I'd have said, 'Forget it.' What do they want me to do? Become an anthropologist?' — Alan Greenspan

In general, corruption tends to exist whenever governments have favors to extend, or something to sell. — Alan Greenspan

I was a fairly good amateur musician, and I was an average professional. But the one thing I saw was that the big band business was fading. — Alan Greenspan

Corruption, embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is keep it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff. — Alan Greenspan

I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world. — Alan Greenspan

Europe is very critical to the United States in the sense not only do we have a fourth of our exports there, but more importantly, a significant proportion of the foreign affiliate profits in fact, half of U.S. corporations, are in Europe. — Alan Greenspan

Increased jobs are the consequence of increased trade. Increasing jobs more than output implies a fall in productivity and standards of living. That surely cannot be our goal. — Alan Greenspan

Cash is available and we should use that in larger amounts, as is necessary, to solve the problems of the stress of this. — Alan Greenspan

The person I liked the best was Gerald R. Ford. He was the most decent man in politics I ever had any relationships with. — Alan Greenspan

I think the whole issue of a debt ceiling makes no sense to me whatsoever. Anybody who is remotely adroit at arithmetic doesn't need a debt ceiling to tell you where you are. — Alan Greenspan

The purpose of a politician is to be a leader. A politician has to lead. Otherwise he's just a follower. — Alan Greenspan

I always believed in animal spirits. It's not their existence that is new. It's the fact that they are not random events, but actually replicate in-bred qualities of human nature which create those animal spirits. — Alan Greenspan

It is very difficult to predict when a bond crisis could happen. — Alan Greenspan

Clearly, sustained low inflation implies less uncertainty about the future, and lower risk premiums imply higher prices of stocks and other earning assets. We can see that in the inverse relationship exhibited by price/earnings ratios and the rate of inflation in the past. But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade? — Alan Greenspan

But rules cannot substitute for character. — Alan Greenspan

Meyer lemons are a splurge, but they're so wonderful. You could make a Meyer lemon curd or a jam. You could make a salad with slices of Meyer lemon. You could make a Meyer lemon tart and top the tart with candied slices of the lemons. You could use the lemons in a salsa to go over grilled fish or in a ceviche. — Dorie Greenspan

The job of the Federal Reserve is "to know when to remove the punch bowl at the party." Under Alan Greenspan's leadership its motto became "let's all get drunk and see what happens." It is now the morning after and the world will be dealing with Greenspan's hangover for the next several decades. — Said Elias Dawlabani

The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book. — John McCain

Amateurs want to be right. Professionals want to make money. — Alan Greenspan

I came to a stark realization: chronic surpluses could be almost as destabilizing as chronic deficits. — Alan Greenspan

Gold, unlike all other commodities, is a currency ... and the major thrust in the demand for gold is not for jewelry. It's not for anything other than an escape from what is perceived to be a fiat money system, paper money, that seems to be deteriorating. — Alan Greenspan

There are winners and there are losers. And as much as we would like to help the losers, if we do it in the way that directs the limited capital of the society to support the low-productivity parts of the economy, it means that the rest of the economy - our overall standard of living - will not rise as much as it could. — Alan Greenspan

Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary. — Alan Greenspan

I do not understand where the backing of Bitcoin is coming from. There is no fundamental issue of capabilities of repaying it in anything which is universally acceptable, which is either intrinsic value of the currency or the credit or trust of the individual who is issuing the money, whether it's a government or an individual. — Alan Greenspan

Protectionism will do little to create jobs and if foreigners retaliate, we will surely lose jobs. — Alan Greenspan

To be motivated to sit at home and study, instead of going out and playing, children need a sense of themselves over time
they need to be able to picture themselves in the future ... If they can't, then they're simply reacting to daily events, responding to the needs of the moment
for pleasure, for affiliation, for acceptance. — Stanley Greenspan

I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well. — Alan Greenspan

If prices go down, we will have problems - problems in the sense of spillover to other areas, Greenspan said. While he hasn't seen such spreading yet, I expect to. — Alan Greenspan

I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here. If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect. I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market. There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool. It would basically affect the underlying psychology. — Alan Greenspan

Greenspan's policies have created huge amounts of wealth for Arizona. — Ernst Happel

And whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the word economy ... I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil. — Alan Greenspan

Any informed borrower is simply less vulnerable to fraud and abuse. — Alan Greenspan

If you want a simple model for predicting the unemployment rate in the United States over the next few years, here it is: It will be what Greenspan wants it to be, plus or minus a random error reflecting the fact that he is not quite God. — Paul Krugman

To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills. — Alan Greenspan

The culture of Greece is not the same as the culture of Germany, and to fuse them into a single unit is extremely difficult. — Alan Greenspan

I don't know if there's a method that I'd like to see younger people bring back, I just want to see everyone of every age in the kitchen. — Dorie Greenspan

The more flexible an economy, the greater its ability to self-correct in response to inevitable, often unanticipated, disturbances and thus to contain the size and consequences of cyclical imbalances. — Alan Greenspan

Adam Roberts is an original: smart, funny, talented, endlessly inquisitive, an A student and, happily for us, an A+ teacher. Everyone from beginner cooks to sure hands will learn something new on each page. And even if, like Adam's mom's, your stove stores shoes and handbags, you'll still be charmed by Secrets-it's a great read. — Dorie Greenspan

The free-market economist Friedrich von Hayek once said that "without a theory, the facts are silent." But for Greenspan, with his theory, the facts became invisible. — Anonymous

It seems superfluous to constrain trading in some of the newer derivatives and other innovative financial contracts of the past decade. The worst have failed; investors no longer fund them and are not likely to in the future. — Alan Greenspan

If we are to remain preeminent in transforming knowledge into economic value, America's system of higher education must remain the world's leader in generating scientific and technological breakthrough, and in meeting the challenge to educate workers. — Alan Greenspan

The Iraq War is largely about oil. — Alan Greenspan

There is no evidence that the business cycle has been repealed. — Alan Greenspan

I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant — Alan Greenspan

There are so many reasons to cook and bake. Yes, good food is certainly one of them, but so is the sense of satisfaction you get when you make something with your own hands, when you know that you can take care of yourself and feed yourself well and when you know that you can take care of and feed others. — Dorie Greenspan

I think the move by Mr. Greenspan was welcomed by everyone here. — Jack Welch

The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions ... Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks. — Alan Greenspan

The central focus of what we are doing at the Fed is to keep inflation from accelerating - and preferably decelerating. — Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan assures us that home prices are not prone to bubbles - or major deflations - on any national scale," he'd said. "This is ridiculous, of course ... . In 1933, during the fourth year of the Great Depression, the United States found itself in the midst of a housing crisis that put housing starts at 10% of the level of 1925. Roughly half of all mortgage debt was in default. — Michael Lewis

I've been in and out of Wall Street since 1949, and I've never seen the type of animosity between government and Wall Street. And I'm not sure where it comes from, but I suspect it's got to do with a general schism in this society which is really becoming ever more destructive. — Alan Greenspan

The economy is turning, and credit comes in with a lag, .. To the extent that a number of small firms are finding it difficult to get the credit they need at a price they can afford, that's likely to change for the better. — Alan Greenspan

The cookie-verse is infinite — Dorie Greenspan

We increase our suffering through our attempts to avoid it — Miriam Greenspan

The arts develop skills and habits of mind that are important for workers in the new economy of ideas. — Alan Greenspan

Unless you are willing to compromise, society cannot live together. — Alan Greenspan

Self-esteem is an inner feeling: Sometimes it corresponds with outer reality, and sometimes it doesn't. — Stanley Greenspan

Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted. — Alan Greenspan

We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power. — Alan Greenspan

This shit is for amateurs. The whole world's a fucking drag show. Look at them, they are all in costume. — David Greenspan

It's only when the markets are perceived to have exhausted themselves on the downside that they turn. Trying to prevent them from going down just merely prolongs the agony. — Alan Greenspan

The only way to have several currencies from divergent nations lumped together is if they are culturally close, such as Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. If they aren't, it simply can't continue to work. — Alan Greenspan

There is nothing to guarantee the superior judgment, knowledge, and integrity of an inspector or a bureaucrat-and the deadly consequences of entrusting him with arbitrary power are obvious. — Alan Greenspan

If your child is going to develop a healthy personality with the capacity to remain intact and grow, she must learn how to test reality, regulate her impulses, stabilize her moods, integrate her feelings and actions, focus her concentration and plan. — Stanley Greenspan

The only thing that was economic, I might say, about my music career, aside from the fact that I did everybody's tax returns in the band, was the decision I made to leave the music business on economic grounds. — Alan Greenspan

And by the way, I would not only reappoint Greenspan; if Greenspan would happen to die, God forbid, I would do like they did in the movie 'Weekend at Bernie's.' I would prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him. — John McCain

The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake. — Alan Greenspan

Remember what we're looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency, that no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match. — Alan Greenspan

Improvements in lending practices driven by information technology have enabled lenders to reach out to households with previously unrecognized borrowing capacities. — Alan Greenspan

Greenspan tells us what to do. Someone should take him out and hang him. — Hutton Gibson

The Fed needs an approach that consolidates the gains of the Greenspan years and ensures that those successful policies will continue - even if future Fed chairmen are less skillful or less committed to price stability than Mr. Greenspan has been. — Ben Bernanke

[On reporters trying to cajole a smile from her husband, Alan Greenspan:] For a Federal Reserve chairman, that was a smile. — Andrea Mitchell

We as central bankers need not be concerned if a collapsing financial asset bubble does not threaten to impair the real economy, its production, jobs and price stability. — Alan Greenspan

By far the most significant event in finance during the past decade has been the extraordinary development and expansion of financial derivatives. — Alan Greenspan

Mr. Greenspan did a very good job in the early 1990's. But recently he's fallen prey to this crazy theory that prosperity causes inflation. So they're trying to slow the economy down by raising interest rates. It's like a doctor saying you're in great health, so we have to make you sick a little bit. It's a bizarre theory. It's going to hurt our economy. — Steve Forbes

I was sort of shocked when it all of a sudden turned out that I got all A's through college, with the exception of two B's in the first term. I never envisaged myself as summa cum laude. — Alan Greenspan

Under the gold standard, a free banking system stands as the protector of an economy's stability and balanced growth ... The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit ... In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation — Alan Greenspan

If our society were truly to appreciate the significance of children's emotional ties throughout the first years of life, it would no longer tolerate children growing up or parents having to struggle in situations which could not possibly nourish healthy growth. — Stanley Greenspan

Alan Greenspan is unskilled; you don't take the unskilled seriously. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

What I see in the corporate sector is very clearly an issue of a major shortfall in the issue of, what some people call confidence, but whatever you want to call it. Clearly people are looking out in the very distant future and they are saying that it is too complex. — Alan Greenspan

Attention, learning, and problem solving depend in part on the ability to plan and sequence actions and ideas. The Interactive Metronome(R) helps individuals systematically exercise and often improve basic motor planning and sequencing capacities. — Stanley Greenspan

Diplomacy is really far less important than the stock movements within Russia. — Alan Greenspan

If you get beyond the political rhetoric [and assembled a group to solve Social Security] it would take them 15 minutes. It would take them 15 minutes only because 10 minutes was used for pleasantries. — Alan Greenspan

We ought to be opening up our borders to skilled labour from all parts of the world because [the state of the world is as follows: ] if we were to do that we would increase the supply of skilled workers that our schools have been unable to create and as a consequence of that we would lower the average wage of skills and reduce the degree of income inequality in this country. — Alan Greenspan

Greenspan, who knew so much more than most, knew far less than most supposed ... — Alan Greenspan

Without calling the overall national issue a bubble, it's pretty clear that it's an unsustainable underlying pattern. — Alan Greenspan

Good discipline is more than just punishing or laying down the law. It is liking children and letting them see that they are liked. It is caring enough about them to provide good, clear rules for their protection. — Stanley Greenspan

I was a good amateur but only an average professional. I soon realized that there was a limit to how far I could rise in the music business, so I left the band and enrolled at New York University. — Alan Greenspan