In describing the failure of the markets as far back as 1998, White wrote that it is naïve to assume that markets behave in a disciplined way.
But Greenspan, the champion of free markets, remained impassive.
White was losing his patience. Was there no other option than to regularly allow the economy to collapse? Didn’t the policy of operating without a safety net border on stupidity? And wasn’t it written, in both the Bible and the Koran, that it was important to provide for seven years of famine during seven good years?
This time, White didn’t just want to discuss his views behind closed doors. …an assault on everything Greenspan had preached and, as everyone knew, he was not fond of being contradicted.