And as usual, he says nothing new or interesting. But at least he’s right, for once. Warning that deficit spending can be a problem, Greenspan also noted that reduced spending would not damage the “recovery.”
That’s nice, but aside from sending Paul Krugman into a rage, these words of Greenspan’s are profoundly safe things to say right now, and probably stem from Greenspan’s desperate bid to remain relevant while covering up his 19 years of profligacy and horrendously bad forecasting while at the Fed. Now after almost two decades of enabling deficit spending through Federal Reserve policy, Greenspan has decided to lecture the feds on the dangers of deficit spending.
For some of the best recent history on Greenspan’s various world tours to pontificate on the crisis he was key in creating, see Sheehan’s recent Panderer to Power(book review here) in which he thoroughly dismantles the Greenspan mythology.
Also notable is a recent piece at Marketwatch on Greenspan’s alleged Randian laissez-faire ideology. Sheehan also provides one of the best treatments of this topic, noting that as with all people, Greenspan saw Rand as a stepping stone to more power and influence, which she was since a Randian was central to Greenspan’s rise to power.
