In October 2008 a humbled Alan Greenspan sat before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The former Federal Reserve Chairman – who in past years had been dubbed ‘Maestro’ by journalist Bob Woodward and been one of the leading advocates for the deregulation of financial markets – had been called before the committee to give testimony in the wake of the global financial crisis, which had been precipitated by the collapse of the American and European housing markets. In his testimony, Greenspan admitted, ‘those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself especially, are in a state of shocked disbelief’ (Financial Crisis 2008). And, later on, ‘I found a flaw. I don't know how significant or permanent it is, but I have been very distressed by that fact’ (Financial Crisis 2008). The ‘flaw’ that Greenspan had found was in what he called his ‘ideology’, the ‘conceptual framework’ or ‘model that [he had] perceived [to be] the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works’, which entailed that self-interest alone would compel marketplace actors not to jeopardise their own long-term credibility or solvency by, for example, creating securities backed by risky sub-prime mortgages, paying ratings agencies to assign them high investment grades, and selling them off to unwitting investors around the world (having sometimes also ‘insured’ these securities with credit default swaps purchased from firms with insufficient capital reserves to pay out if the securities were to fail) (Financial Crisis 2008).

The Maestro's confidence in the power of self-interest to discourage immoderate behaviour within the marketplace had been severely shaken. And so had been the confidence – such as it was – of many others, which created openings for reformers and revolutionaries alike. For example, it created an opening for Congressman Barney Frank, Senator Chris Dodd and President Barack Obama to pass and sign legislation that significantly increased federal regulation of the financial services sector.