Charlie Rose Talks to Alan Greenspan

After the financial crisis arrived, nobody took more hits than you. How did you handle it?
Remember, Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Well, I found that proposition very useful. And I’m acutely aware of what I’m dealing with. Look, I got a lot of praise during the 18½ years I was [Fed chairman], which I didn’t deserve. And I got a lot of criticism. Many people used to come up to me and say, “Thank you for my 401(k).” I didn’t know how to handle that, and I would basically say, “I appreciate that, but I had very little to do with your 401(k).

Your new book is called The Map and the Territory. What did you learn in the process of writing it?
What I first started on is an extraordinary event. The very difficult issue for forecasting is how can you pinpoint when the bubble breaks. And more importantly, what are the consequences of that? As far as I’m concerned, there’s one critical issue.