In a speech today, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the [US economy’s flexibility and stability have fanned speculative excesses [WSJ].](http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB112912033862066569.html)

[Here’s the text of his speech [FRB]](http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20051012/default.htm)

>Although the business cycle has not disappeared, flexibility
>has made the economy more resilient to shocks and more
>stable overall during the past couple of decades. To be sure,
>that stability, by fostering speculative excesses, has created
>some new challenges for policymakers. But more
>fundamentally, an environment of greater economic stability
>has been key to the impressive growth in the standards of
>living and economic welfare so evident in the United States.

Greenspanspeak Translation: because the economy is so stable and flexible, its more risky. hmmm…