"Non, je ne regret rien" - Édith Piaf, Alan Greenspan

It seems the former Fed chairman just can't stop talking, though many of us would probably do the same thing if we were being paid what he is. Here's another Bloomberg report (hat tip CB) with Alan Greenspan's latest thoughts on the mess he left behind.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he has 'no particular regrets' about his time at the central bank, adding that the deepening U.S. housing-market slump isn't a result of his policies.

"Markets are becoming aware of the fact that the decline in house prices is not stopping," Greenspan said today in Oslo. "I have no particular regrets. The housing bubble is not a reflection of what we did, as it is a global phenomenon."

Home prices fell in a third of U.S. cities last quarter as stricter lending standards caused a 14 percent drop in sales nationwide, the National Association of Realtors said Nov. 21. Declines in sales and prices signal the housing slump that began in 2006 may extend into its third year, matching the slowdown 18 years ago that ended in the 1991 recession.

The collapse of the U.S. subprime market "was a shocker because no one expected it," Greenspan said. "It was the weakest link in the international financial sector." He said that the rout in the market for subprime loans "is over" because it "went to zero and cannot go any further."
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Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, said Nov. 16 that there is a 50 percent probability that the U.S. will tumble into a recession after the "mess" left by Greenspan. The retired Fed chairman defended his record in a statement released the same day, saying the criticisms were "inaccurate or incomplete."

After the 2001 recession, the Fed cut its benchmark rate to a four-decade low of 1 percent. That move, along with a hands-off approach to regulation, has brought Greenspan under fire as the bursting of the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis threaten to sink the economy.

From Wikipedia: "Non, je ne regrette rien" is a French song written in 1956 which is best known through the recording made by French singer, Édith Piaf, on 10 November 1960. Its title translates as "No, I regret nothing" but has often been rendered simply as "No regrets". It was composed by Charles Dumont and its lyrics were written by Michel Vaucaire.