John Crudele on Greenspan's NAR speech

John Crudele of the New York Post goes off on both the National Association of Realtors and former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan in this commentary from yesterday.

WHO the hell would be stupid enough to pay to hear Alan Greenspan's opinion of anything!

Notice, that isn't a question because I already know the answer. Rather, it's a statement with one of those exclamation points to show that my voice is being raised in a mix of bewilderment and anger.

The National Association of Realtors, which is probably suffering from combat fatigue, asked the former Federal Reserve chairman and the chief suspect in the destruction of the US economy, to address its Washington conference Tuesday and tell real estate people what they want to hear -- that things are getting better.

So Greenspan did just that.

Did anyone see the video clip of this speech that CNBC had up yesterday? I watched about the first minute or so and began feeling nauseous.

Apparently, so did Mr. Crudele...

"We are finally beginning to see the seeds of a bottoming" in the housing industry, Greenspan told the gathering. Adding, according to Bloomberg News, that the US is "at the edge of a major liquidation" in the stock of unsold houses.

Applause, applause. Here's your check, Alan.

I figured it was worth knowing how much Greenspan gets these days for defending his own indefensible actions at the Fed while also trying to pull the wool over the eyes of would-be homeowners.

So I asked someone named Lucien Salvant, managing director of the NAR's public affairs department.

His answer in an e-mail: "None of your business. How much is the NY Post paying you to ask that question?" Whoa! Calm down, Lucien.

It gets a little ugly from there, the NAR rightly accused of "shoveling crap to the press" which gets passed along to unsuspecting potential home buyers all for the greater good of the real estate profession.

And, of course, there's another litany of errant predictions from the Maestro.

This is just sad in so many ways - like two zombies embracing each other.