Greenspan’s hands-off approach

As one who never deified Alan Greenspan, I feel that the current criticism of the former Fed chair is overdue. (“Sour notes for maestro,” April 9.)

His real sin was his refusal to use the Fed’s powers to rein in the sub-prime fiasco. His argument that the damage from a boom and bust would be less than the damage from regulating the banks was just wrong.

If he truly believed in a competitive free-market system, then he had to know that any workable system needed strong regulation. Can you imagine what baseball, football, basketball or any sport would be like with out umps and referees?

To say 2 million foreclosed homes was an acceptable price to pay for his inaction betrays a moral sense way out of whack.

Emil Lawton

Sherman Oaks

The Times story featuring critics of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is misleading to readers because all it does is provide a forum for those with a political bias against free markets.

He’s outnumbered in your story 3 to 1 by critics with a very liberal political agenda and painted with the Ayn Rand brush in an article in the business section, not on the editorial page.

Kip Dellinger

West Los Angeles