The A(lan)B(en)C(EO)s of the Tragedy- Show - "Faith wins over Science"

As Lehman Brothers went down without a whisper and Merrill got 'Lynch'ed, Mr. Alan Greenspan, that great sage, said this on ABC's This Week - "This is once in a half-century, perhaps once in a century type of event." (quote is typed while watching the extract on TV...)

Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, George Bush, Hank Paulson, Obama, McCain, members of Congress, all the Street CEOs, and others are putting the blame on speculators, some bad apples and renegades. But none of them are putting the blame where it should actually rest- with themselves.

Some basics-

The phrase 'once in century' event is usually used when referring to a nature- related event, like a flood or an earthquake. This financial mess, Mr. Greenspan, was not caused by 'natural phenomena,' but by your and Ben B's mismanagement of the financial system of this country.

A major part of statistical analysis is devoted to developing models that explain the variability in observed 'outcome' variables based on other observed 'independent' or causal variables. The 'unexplained' variability is often referred to as 'error' - the difference between the observed outcome and the predicted outcome based on the model. The reason for error is that the model that is developed does not fully explain (or predict the outcome variable with certainty. The reason for the error in weather forecasting, for example, is that the models that have been developed for weather forecasting do not account for (or model the) weather variations completely.
Mr. Greenspan, many people including myself predicted a few years ago that your "easy credit- have it on Alan" policies in support of the administration's "ownership society"will result in a financial tsunami. It did not require much intelligence- basic high school analysis combined with elementary human psychology.