Quotes by Alan Greenspan

“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, youve probably misunderstood what Ive said”

“It has been my experience that competency in mathematics, both in numerical manipulations and in understanding its conceptual foundations, enhances a persons ability to handle the more ambiguous and qualitative relationships that dominate our day-to-day financial decision-making.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I do not deny that many appear to have succeeded in a material way by cutting corners and by manipulating associates, both in their professional and in their personal lives. But material success is possible in this world and far more satisfying when it comes without exploiting others.”

“Protectionism will do little to create jobs and if foreigners retaliate, we will surely lose jobs.”

“The Fact that our economical models at The Fed, the best in the world, have been wrong for fourteen straight quarters, does not mean they will not be right in the fifteenth quarter”

“I must say, I never expected to see the day where I would be talking about anything other than reducing the debt, Im running into the tyranny of zero, which is where you cant reduce (the debt) any more”

“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.”

“Anything that we can do to raise personal savings is very much in the interest of this country, Greenspan said.”

“The difference between involvement and commitment is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was involved - the pig was committed.”

under the gold standard, a free banking system stands as the protector of an economys 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

The very nature of finance is that it cannot be profitable unless it is significantly leveraged... and as long as there is debt, there can be failure and contagion.

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.

Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria. Bubbles go up very slowly as euphoria builds. Then fear hits, and it comes down very sharply. When I started to look at that, I was sort of intellectually shocked. Contagion is the critical phenomenon which causes the thing to fall apart.

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

Finance is wholly different from the rest the economy.

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.

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 its a government or an individual.

You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is. I havent been able to do it. Maybe somebody else can.