Posted on 09/14/2007 4:32:26 PM PDT by shrinkermd
In a withering critique of his fellow Republicans, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his memoir that the party to which he has belonged all his life deserved to lose power last year for forsaking its small-government principles.
In "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," published by Penguin Press, Mr. Greenspan criticizes both congressional Republicans and President George W. Bush for abandoning fiscal discipline.
The book is scheduled for public release Monday. The Wall Street Journal bought a copy at a bookstore in the New York area.
Mr. Greenspan, who calls himself a "lifelong libertarian Republican," writes that he advised the White House to veto some bills to curb "out-of-control" spending while the Republicans controlled Congress. He says President Bush's failure to do so "was a major mistake." Republicans in Congress, he writes, "swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose."
Many economists say the Fed, by cutting short-term interest rates to 1% in mid-2003 and keeping them there for a year, helped foster a housing bubble that is now bursting. In his book, which was largely written before much of the recent turmoil in credit markets, Mr. Greenspan defends the policy. "We wanted to shut down the possibility of corrosive deflation," he writes. "We were willing to chance that by cutting rates we might foster a bubble, an inflationary boom of some sort, which we would subsequently have to address....It was a decision done right."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Guy’s right.
Is Greenspan really Conservative? I know he’s married to that well known Conservative (NOT) Andrea Mitchell. If he is really Conservative, I guess he has a Matalin-Carville type union!
I don’t know whether he’s conservative, but he’s got a sharp sense of humor. I expect to enjoy his book whether I agree with him or not.
The guy that is married to lying Andrea Mitchell, that admitted she knew Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, but later tried to cover for her boss Tim Rusert by trying to change her story. Geenspan you are judged by the company you keep and you are married to Mitchell. Your criticism rings hollow with me arse. You Gingrich, Powell and Armitage should start your own television show in the mold of Golden Girls, you can call it Golden Backstabbers.
That would be my new tag line if it fit. Right on!
about “Clinton’s disciplined focus on long-term economic growth?” duhh—he left the economy in recession.
This, coming from the former chairman of the inflationary Fed ? That's funny - the Fed isn't exactly a conservative institution, nor is it consistent with the principles of small government.
5 posts....
L
Uh huh - so by inference the Dems deserved to win ?
The both of you are nuts. You prefer socialists to Republicans. Thanks for helping the country fall faster down the slope to socialism.
I’d believe Greenspan more if he wasn’t married to a big-time liberal and if he’d campaign for those Republicans with conservative principles.
yeah - and it happened on Greenspan’s watch, too. Of course he can’t blame Clinton - he shares it.
That would be my new tag line if it fit. Right on!
How about this?
Swap principle for power and you'll end up with neither
And Greenspan, who presided over the dot com bubble, the real estate bubble, and so on, is a genius ?
Hardly - he’s just another idiot who wanted to play at being a god.
Well....yes. But the point of fiscal discipline isn’t reducing the deficit, it’s reducing the burden of goverment to the taxpayer—a point which few, if any, politicians of either major party understand.
And the Dems, who have no principles, deserve power ?
This should be interesting. Sounds like he’s making some valid points. As for the Andrea Mitchell influence ... he’s probably more of an influence on her than vice- versa.
LLS
Guy’s wrong.
They deserved to lose...to what? Did fiscal conservatives who believe in limited government replace them? I don’t think so.
Many of the Republicans deserved to lose in primary challenges. Very few deserved to lose to democrats.
F Greenspan.
Did I get the initial wrong?
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