Greenspan’s smoke screen

Re “Former Fed chief ‘shocked’ by crisis,” Oct. 24

I am no fan of Alan Greenspan and believe that he bears significant responsibility for our current financial meltdown. But where is the focus on those politicians who in the past sat silently in awe of the former Federal Reserve chairman while he used fancy technical language to explain his simple theory that the market, if left completely on its own, would self-regulate and create stability for our economy?

Because they were afraid to admit that they didn’t understand his theories or discourse, they never asked the simple question, “Excuse me, what the hell are you talking about?” Instead, they sat in rapt attention, smiled and nodded in agreement as Greenspan dazzled them with technical language that would make a Harvard linguist proud -- and is now making our economy scream.

Matt Giorgi

Brea

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We should not be so surprised that Greenspan believed the markets would police themselves. This is a man who admires Ayn Rand, an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism. When I read Rand at about age 22, I knew it was nonsense. Too bad Greenspan didn’t grow up sooner.

Susan Guilford

Orange