Few people can match the economic expertise of Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. He served as the senior economic advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He set the bar for instructing an often-ignorant and easily distracted Congress on matters of intricate economic policy. And he served as the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

So when he took the stage as a keynote speaker at KPMG's 2014 Insurance Industry Conference Tuesday, he came with his bona fides in order, and ready to speak to an audience that was keenly interested in any vision he could provide on 1) where the economy is going, 2) why, and 3) when (if ever) it is likely to improve.

The short answers to those are: 1) nowhere fast, 2) because nobody is willing to invest, and 3) eventually, but nobody can tell when.