Greenspan's Vision - Reading The Pictures

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan pauses on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 7, 2010, while testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) hearing examining the causes of the collapse of major financial institutions caused by subprime lending. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON – APRIL 07: Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan waits in the dark as a power outage takes place during a hearing before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission April 7, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The commission began a three-day hearing on “Subprime Lending and Securitization and Government-Sponsored Enterprises” to examine the meltdown of subprime mortgages during the financial crisis in 2008. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Both newswire shots, the one of Greenspan with his eyes closed and his glasses off, and the one of him sitting in the dark at the testimony table before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission during a surprise power failure speak to the same thing — that during the time the banks accumulated unfettered power leading to a near-melt down of the U.S. economy, Greenspan never saw it coming.

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Michael Shaw
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