Scott, you've been beating this "Greenspan is the bogeyman thing" into the ground...sure, Greenspan deserves some blame, but...
This was a bubble....the bubble is bursting......believe it or not, if you want people to change people's behavior, you almost need this type of situation (pricing falling unsustained).....look at Japan, and how behavior changes when you try to sustain a bubble.....things ebb slowly....but slow enough where one can always say, "hey, maybe things will be better tomorrow"..while reform gets delayed, and the fundamentals only get worse....and people don't change..
Had Greenspan not raised rates the last couple times....stock prices would still be falling, but at a slower rate....most bulls would be vigorously defending their stocks, and would likely not change their habits...
This whole thing would drag out even longer than expected..
Everyone who bought near the top, and held thru 2000 and now....only has themselves to blame...there were plenty of warning sides that this was a mania, and plenty of opportunities to save oneself....How many folks who bought stocks in 1999/2000 really understood market history, or did real research on those companies? Don't blame Greenspan for investors failing to do their homework, and thinking the sky is green...when it is in fact blue. |
