WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- In Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the Far East, the correlation of geoeconomic forces appears to be moving against the United States. And greed, the Rh-negative bloodstream of democratic capitalism, is what triggered a global subprime mortgage fiasco, which, in turn, pushed the dollar right off its pedestal.

Wall Street's largest banks lost $50 billion, with Citigroup taking the biggest hit at $11 billion. Its deposed Chief Executive Officer Chuck Prince walked away with $100 million in severance benefits. Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), the biggest investment firm, which lost more than $8 billion, fired CEO Stan O'Neal, who had made $160 million over the past five years he had been in charge. His golden parachute added another $160 million.

Many saw the disaster coming but kept quiet as the international Ponzi scheme kept belching huge profits. One leading global umpire, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, didn't throw any yellow or red flags on the plays and admitted after retiring he knew about abuses in subprime lending but failed to foresee their paralyzing effects until early 2006. Greenspan, who led the Fed through 18 years and four presidents, still defends his lowering of interest rates from 2001 until 2004 that critics say caused the crisis in the first place.

The housing bubble was the size of a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon when Greenspan said in October 2004, "There's a little froth in this market," but "we don't perceive that there's a national bubble." Frenetic bank lending led to The Denver Post's story of a runaway prisoner who managed to borrow enough to buy three expensive houses while on the lam, then bought two more while in prison.

Cheap credit, no money down, led millions to purchase houses way beyond their means. No problem, said mortgage prestidigitators. Real estate would keep appreciating, so why not upgrade with something more expensive. Refinancing was a breeze.