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Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake

by Steven D
Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 11:49:14 AM EST

Remember all those speeches he made supporting the Bush economic policies and Bush's tax cuts? Well, now that Bush is the most unpopular President in a generation, and Greenspan is no longer head of the Federal Reserve, he's finally willing to bash Bush for his reckless and dangerous "tax cut and spend" policies. Too little, and much too late:

Alan Greenspan, who served as Federal Reserve chairman for 18 years and was the leading Republican economist for the past three decades, levels unusually harsh criticism at President Bush and the Republican Party in his new book, arguing that Bush abandoned the central conservative principle of fiscal restraint. [...]
Greenspan, who had an eight-year alliance with Clinton and Democratic Treasury secretaries in the 1990s, praises Clinton's mind and his tough anti-deficit policies, calling the former president's 1993 economic plan "an act of political courage."
But he expresses deep disappointment with Bush. "My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan writes. "Not exercising the veto power became a hallmark of the Bush presidency. . . . To my mind, Bush's collaborate-don't-confront approach was a major mistake."
Greenspan accuses the Republicans who presided over the party's majority in the House until last year of being too eager to tolerate excessive federal spending in exchange for political opportunity. [...]
Greenspan, 81, indirectly criticizes his friend and colleague from the Ford administration, Vice President Cheney. Former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill has quoted Cheney as once saying, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."
Greenspan says, " 'Deficits don't matter,' to my chagrin became part of the Republicans' rhetoric."
He argues that "deficits must matter" and that uncontrolled government spending and borrowing can produce high inflation "and economic devastation."

What a wanker.

Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (4.00 / 2)

I remember him telling congress there was room for a tax cut when Bush first took office. The Republicans ate it up. Two huge tax cuts combined with Greenspan overly stimulative post 9/11 rate cuts and now we are 2 trillion more in debt and the dollar is coming apart. Greenspan was in the middle of all of it. A willing accomplice.

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; now we know that it is bad economics;" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

by Salunga on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 12:49:03 PM EST

Due for an Award (4.00 / 2)

For extreme cowardice, the Academy awards Alan Greenspan the coveted Colin Powell award.

50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts

by TarheelDem on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 03:22:00 PM EST

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (none / 1)

Does this mean it is officially lame duck season on the cocktail frankfurter circuit?

by BooMan on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 12:12:08 PM EST

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (none / 0)

To be fair, the Chairman of the Fed is supposed to be apolitical, and when directly questioned by Congress on specific policy matters, Greenspan did go against the party line -- with the result being that the GOP-controlled Congress stopped asking him quite so many questions. Now that he's no longer chairman, he's free to speak his mind.

This is the kind of behavior we have clamored for with the Justice Department, and which the supremely political Alberto Gonzales consistently failed to deliver. We can't have it both ways.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

by eodell (eodell at naqada dot org) on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 02:22:59 PM EST

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (none / 1)

Flaming hypocrite. He approved and encouraged the whole sordid mess we're in now. If he was so against things, he could have resigned. Fat chance!

by Quentin on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 04:05:13 PM EST

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (none / 0)

But he's got a book to sell now. Self-serving, hypocrite.

Land of the watched, because of the cowed.

by hens teeth on Sun Sep 16th, 2007 at 02:00:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake (none / 0)

Greenspan's subtle yet perhaps most damning slam of Lil' George comes in the form of a compliment paid to Bill Clinton:

"We both read books and were curious and thoughtful about the world..."

Thanks Alan for confirming everything we already knew. George is a stubborn corrupt dullard and you're a self-aggrandizing, self-rightgeous fuck now consumed with burnishing your permanently tarnished legacy.

by Anacher Forester on Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 06:36:26 PM EST

Alan Greenspan, Cowardly Snake | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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