Rules cannot take the place of character. Alan Greenspan More Quotes by Alan Greenspan More Quotes From Alan Greenspan I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well. Alan Greenspan honesty business success The number one problem in today's generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy. Alan Greenspan todays-generation generations numbers We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power. Alan Greenspan investing benefits guarantees Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours. Alan Greenspan dark giving people I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said. Alan Greenspan investing misunderstood should The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard. Alan Greenspan understanding rights mean If I've made myself clear, I've misspoken. Alan Greenspan clear ifs made The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default. Alan Greenspan debt united-states zero I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms. Alan Greenspan self made mistake The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake. Alan Greenspan leaving careers happiness Remember what we're looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency, that no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match. Alan Greenspan dollars gold remember What we have found over the years in the marketplace is that derivatives have been an extraordinarily useful vehicle to transfer risk from those who shouldn't be taking it to those who are willing to and are capable of doing so. Alan Greenspan risk business years Amateurs want to be right. Professionals want to make money. Alan Greenspan making-money want Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear. Alan Greenspan self-esteem integrity mean When trust is lost, a nation's ability to transact business is palpably undermined. Alan Greenspan ability nations lost By far the most significant event in finance during the past decade has been the extraordinary development and expansion of financial derivatives. Alan Greenspan expansion events past In general, corruption tends to exist whenever governments have favors to extend, or something to sell. Alan Greenspan favors corruption government Regulators have not been able to achieve the level of future clarity required to act pre-emptively. The problem is not lack of regulation but unrealistic expectations. What we confront in reality is uncertainty, some of it frighteningly so... Alan Greenspan ignorance expectations reality But rules cannot substitute for character. Alan Greenspan substitutes character Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted. Alan Greenspan accepted gold world
