If I say something which you understand fully in this regard, I probably made a mistake.

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.

Corruption, embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is keep it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff.

But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?

Credit-default swaps, I think, have serious problems associated with them.

Greenspan, who knew so much more than most, knew far less than most supposed.

Amateurs want to be right. Professionals want to make money.