Former Fed Chief Defends His Role

Former Federal Reserve Chief, Alan Greenspan, has blamed an insatiable global appetite for risky mortgages as the main contributor to the financial crisis. In a hearing with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, he said, “In my judgment, the origination of subprime mortgages -- as opposed to the rise in global demand for securitized subprime-mortgage interests -- was not a significant cause of the financial crisis."

According to Marketwatch, Alan Greenspan has been widely criticized for failing to properly supervise the financial institutes. Greenspan retaliated by claiming that the institutions under his supervision were not the primary players in the subprime-loan origination.