Daily Inspiration Quote by Alan Greenspan

Greenspan’s sentence is a velvet-gloved warning: it sounds like a historian’s shrug, but it’s really a central banker pointing at the trapdoor. “History has not dealt kindly” personifies the past as a stern judge, letting him scold without sounding like he’s scolding. That rhetorical move matters because it preserves technocratic credibility while still delivering a moral: markets that get comfortable tend to get punished.

The key phrase is “low risk premiums,” the bland, bloodless term for something visceral: investors deciding fear is overpriced. Risk premiums collapse when money is easy, volatility is quiet, and success starts masquerading as skill instead of luck. “Protracted periods” tightens the noose. A brief bout of complacency is a cycle; a long one becomes a culture. Leverage accumulates, standards slip, and pricing stops being a measurement tool and turns into a group affirmation ritual.

Greenspan’s subtext carries a second, more self-protective message. By invoking “history,” he frames crises as recurring patterns rather than policy failures. The line nods to the uncomfortable truth that the institutions tasked with dampening booms often end up validating them: low rates, ample liquidity, and a putative “Great Moderation” can make low risk premiums feel rational right up until they don’t.

Contextually, it reads like a post-bubble epitaph written in advance. It’s less about predicting the exact spark than about identifying the precondition: the long, quiet stretch when caution looks foolish and prudence feels like leaving money on the table. In Greenspan’s universe, the danger isn’t panic; it’s serenity.