I knew and respected Ned Gramlich, the former governor of the Federal Reserve Board, who died last month. If Alan Greenspan had listened to his warnings and took action against the lending abuses in the subprime market, much of the pain now being experienced by moderate income homebuyers could have been prevented. However, it is not true, as Alan Blinder claims in his Sunday column, that Gramlich “saw the emerging subprime problems sooner and clearer than anyone.” There were others that clearly recognized the problem at the time. However, then as now, those who got it wrong have far more access to the NYT and other major media outlets than those who got it right.
--Dean Baker
