Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is expected to be put on stage this morning as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds hearings on what caused the financial crisis and how the government plans to resolve it, the Associated Press reported.

The move comes after the Dow Jones industrial average sank 514 points yesterday amid fears that the government’s efforts to bail out the economy won’t be enough to prevent a global recession.

South Korea’s markets dropped 7.5 percent today, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was down 2.5 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 4.7 percent. As of 11 this morning, the Dow was up 182.47 points to 8,701.68.

The hearings could be heated as lawmakers try to determine what forced them to have to vote on the biggest bailout in U.S. history.

Once hailed as the “maestro” of the U.S. financial system during the 1990s economic boom, Greenspan has faced criticism recently for leaving interest rates too low, spurring a housing boom that has now crashed, while also refusing to impose greater regulations on the issuance of new types of mortgages such as subprime loans.

Also at the hearings, Neel Kashkari, the interim head of the government’s $700 billion bailout effort, and other government officials are expected to lay out plans for implementing the rescue package.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported today that new applications for unemployment benefits rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 478,000. Claims above 400,000 are considered a sign of recession.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. announced that it would cut 3,200 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force, as its revenue outlook worsens, according to an unidentified source briefed on the plan, Bloomberg reported. Goldman Sachs has remained the only firm among Wall Street’s five biggest to remain profitable through the credit crisis.