I was wrong

"I was wrong."

Those words are rarely heard, especially in Washington. But earlier this year, I attended a breakfast meeting with Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury and President of Harvard University. The title of his talk was something along the lines of "Three Significant Areas Where I Was Wrong." Larry is not a modest guy. But his talk made a big impression on me. It showed that he cared about the facts and about the truth, and that he was willing to change his mind based on evidence.

Yesterday, Alan Greenspan joined Larry:

"I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms," Mr. Greenspan said.

A willingness to change one's mind based on the evidence, and not on ideology or preconceptions, is something we need a lot more of in this world.

[GlobalGiving]

Follow Dennis Whittle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DennisWhittle

Comments

[blood1]

09:52 AM on 10/26/2008

OKAY, Greenspan has admitted he made a mistake...so can we please MOVE-ON to something a much more important topic....called THE FUTURE.

Get past the politics of all of this and start looking to resolve the problem. There is an article on CNN Money...regarding the type of program that INDYMAC is using...and of course it is not perfect, but it is action...and yes there are some who may unfairly benefit from this program, but the main part of their plan is that they are actually TAKING ACTION.

So why Paulsen is giving money to NINE banks that are sitting on the money for their stockholders benefit...and WAITING. Now is not the time to WAIT.

Now other groups are lining up for their piece of the pie. If they can show how their company CONTIBUTED to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, then maybe they should be helped...but didn't these companies have CFO's who knew what was going on in the world of economics...They do not deserve a bailout.

It just seems to me that we need to look to the future...and if today's US automakers cannot run their own companies, then all of those employees will suffer when they collapse, but if they all get moved to other industries - infrastructure repair, manufacturing and installing wind and solar systems, wouldn't America be better off in the long run? yes, I voted for Obama

[tompoe]

11:18 AM on 10/24/2008

Let me be the first of millions of those whose 401(k)s are wiped out, with retirement staring me in the face, to let Greenspan know his words are those of a man who lies through his teeth. He knew what was going down, when he joined Bush in calling for tax cuts for the wealthiest, and someone showed him legislation that removed the last vestige of oversight of investment banks. Greenspan thinks this has all been some kind of game. It hasn't. His actions account for one million foreclosures and counting. He can join the war criminals of the Bush administration.

[BillZBubb]

10:48 AM on 10/24/2008

It's too bad Greenspan let ideology and preconceptions keep him from doing the right thing while he had a chance. Any student of economic history knows deregulation of the financial sector ALWAYS leads to debt bubbles and a bad ending. But, Greenspan's right wing, "objectivist" ideology led him to help Bush and the Republicans engineer a disaster.

Now, like disgraced Republican political smear meister Lee Atwater, after the damage is done, Greenspan admits the error of his ways.

[OtayPanky]

10:19 AM on 10/24/2008

Am I the only one who got this Wizard of Oz feeling watching Alan Greenspan yesterday?

You know - the scene where Toto pulls back the curtain, and the old man comes out, feeling very foolish, very chastened.

"I'm not a very good wizard", the old man says. "I'm not even a very good man".

I won't comment on Alan Greenspan's goodness (or lack thereof) as a man. But it turns out he wasn't a very good wizard, either.