“Individuals who lend money to others have a very important interest in getting that money back,” Alan Greenspan reminded the House hearings, falling back on the idea that private creditors would check hedge fund excesses.54 It was not until 2009 that Greenspan conceded that risk monitoring by lenders was a flimsy defense against financial excesses. Even then, he presented the concession as though the crisis of 2007–2009 had come out of the blue—as though LTCM had never happened.
