Alan Greenspan is hurting America. He is the most listened to, most quoted, most powerful economic voice in this country and he is absolutely awful. He's a partisan hack with one of the worst track records over the last 10 years as any Fed Chairman ever.
Alan, do us all a favor, and RETIRE. Now.
Today, Alan was addressing the Senate and telling everyone that our federal budget deficits were on an unsustainable path. Yes, that's true. But just why in gods's name did it take him so long to figure out. And, better question, why is he absolutely unable to admit that the reason for the deficits are the Bush tax cuts?
I mean, my god, I could ask anybody walking down the street why we have budget deficits, and 90% would answer "because of the tax cuts?".
Yet Alan can't admit that, and worse than that, he now says that he didn't endorse the tax cuts.
Time for a little history lesson, Alan?
January 25, 2001:
Title of the article:
Greenspan eyes tax cuts. Fed chairman modifies stance, says cut could help U.S. economy.
Greenspan Eyes Tax Cut
"And should current economic weakness spread beyond what now appears likely, having a tax cut in place may, in fact, do noticeable good," he said.
In the same testimony, Greenspan also uttered this particularly prescient gem:
Greenspan said, however, that there was only a low risk of recession. "It is a low probability. Recessions are low probability, they are rare and they happen for numbers of different reasons," he said, responding to a lawmaker's question.
Nice work, Alan. The economy only went into recession 2 months later. This is the guiding light of the US economy?
So, now we know that Alan supported the 2001 tax cut.
In fact, as recently as 1 month ago, he readily admitted that he supported the 2001 tax cut, in fact he defended it:
March 16, 2005:
Title of the article: '01 Tax Cuts Were Justified, Greenspan Maintains
'01 Tax Cuts Were Justified, Greenspan Maintains
He supported tax cuts at that time, he said, adding that today "I would recommend exactly what I recommended then" if presented with the same information.
Hmmm, seems like Alan has no regrets, seems like Alan has no problem admitting that he supported the 2001 tax cut.
Fast forward to today:
From Bloomberg (sorry, I have no link yet to the question and answer portion of his testimony):
April 21, 2005:
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan comments on his 2001 testimony in support of tax cuts. Greenspan spoke in response to a question from Maryland Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes, a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
"First of all, I did not support a specific tax cut. People assumed that I did. But you will not find anywhere in the public record that I supported the tax cut."
uh, yeah, sure Alan.
Alan Greenspan is hurting America.
He has no credibility anymore, he is nothing more than a hack.
It is long past due for the Democratic party to call for his resignation.
He may have been a good man once, long in the past. But no longer. Now he is just a detriment to our society, and for that reason, he needs to go.
