[tatsuke95]

>"And I think you're conflating economists with people that didn't influence policy at the top level to enable those "salesmen" to do what they did"

Pray tell, what did they do? What options does the Fed have that can run opposite popular politics that wouldn't instantly cause them to lose independence?

>"people that didn't ensure the public that everything was perfectly OK before the crash"

This is simply not true. People, including academics, were writing about the housing market pressures as early as 2004. The "economists" can't force themselves onto MSNBC or CNN to tell people to stop buying houses, especially when that runs counter to what politicians want: a hot economy.

>"The former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, has conceded that the global financial crisis has exposed a "mistake" in the free market ideology which guided his 18-year stewardship of US monetary policy."

An old Randian, trying to ensure his legacy isn't completely tarnished. Hindsight is pretty easy.