Alan Greenspan quotes

Born
March 6, 1926, New York City, U.S.

Occupation
Economist.

Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006.

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

Credit-default swaps, I think, have serious problems associated with them.
– Alan Greenspan

If I’ve made myself clear, I’ve misspoken.
– Alan Greenspan

There is no evidence that the business cycle has been repealed.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

The process of innovation is, of course, never ending.
– Alan Greenspan

Productivity is notoriously difficult to predict.
– Alan Greenspan

We will have more crises and none of them will look like this because no two crises have anything in common except human nature.
– 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

History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums.
– Alan Greenspan

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

The need for values is inbred. Their content is not.
– Alan Greenspan

As long as we issue fiat currency, I see no alternative to a legal tender law.
– Alan Greenspan

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

Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which… public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.
– Alan Greenspan

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

American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage.
– Alan Greenspan

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

The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.
– Alan Greenspan

The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.
– Alan Greenspan

Excessive optimism sows the seeds of its own reversal.
– Alan Greenspan

Rules cannot take the place of character.
– Alan Greenspan

But rules cannot substitute for character.
– Alan Greenspan

If you think you understand what I am saying you do not understand what I am saying.
– 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

Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth.
– 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

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

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

I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said.
– Alan Greenspan

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

No matter how skillful the trading scheme, over the long haul, abnormal returns are sustained only through abnormal exposure to risk.
– Alan Greenspan

All taxes are a drag on economic growth. It’s only a question of degree.
– Alan Greenspan