Trichet Did the Housing Bubbles to Grow Unchecked

The NYT did a pseudo-retrospective on Jean-Claude Trichet as he approaches the end of his 8-year tenture as head of the European Central Bank. Remarkably, the piece never once mentions the fact that he allowed housing bubbles to grow unchecked in Spain, Ireland and elsewhere in the euro zone. These bubbles created huge imbalances that could not be easily corrected, as we are seeing now.

It was 100 percent predictable that these bubbles would burst and lead to a severe downturn. It is hard to ...