Alan Greenspan is trying to pretend to be a critic of Bush's fiscal policies just like original Iraq war supporters are now pretending to be war critics. Paul Krugman, bless his heart, isn't letting "Bubbles" Greenspan get away with it, reminding everyone of St. Alan's true role as a Bush enabler:
When President Bush first took office, it seemed unlikely that he would succeed in getting his proposed tax cuts enacted....
Then Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified before the Senate Budget Committee.
Kruman continues:
Suddenly, his greatest concern — the "emerging key fiscal policy need," he told Congress — was to avert the threat that the federal government might actually pay off all its debt. To avoid this awful outcome, he advocated tax cuts. And the floodgates were opened.
As it turns out, Mr. Greenspan’s fears that the federal government would quickly pay off its debt were, shall we say, exaggerated.
Krugman points out that despite his claims to have been surprised and concerned about how the media interpreted his remarks, Greenspan refused to amend them in subsequent testimony, despite numerous opportunites with Democrats begging him to do just that. This is what led Krugman to call Greenspan a "profile in cowardice" in an earlier column that he quotes in today's.
But the story gets even worse:
If anyone had doubts about Mr. Greenspan’s determination not to inconvenience the Bush administration, those doubts were resolved two years later, when the administration proposed another round of tax cuts, even though the budget was now deep in deficit. And guess what? The former high priest of fiscal responsibility did not object.
And in 2004 he expressed support for making the Bush tax cuts permanent — remember, these are the tax cuts he now says he didn’t endorse....
Krugman's conclusion could not be more damning (and deservedly so):
In retrospect, Mr. Greenspan’s moral collapse in 2001 was a portent. It foreshadowed the way many people in the foreign policy community would put their critical faculties on hold and support the invasion of Iraq, despite ample evidence that it was a really bad idea.
And like enthusiastic war supporters who have started describing themselves as war critics now that the Iraq venture has gone wrong, Mr. Greenspan has started portraying himself as a critic of administration fiscal irresponsibility now that President Bush has become deeply unpopular and Democrats control Congress.
Thank God we have people like Paul Krugman and John Stewart who don't let these things go down the "Memory hole". (Funny that they're NOT technically supposed to be journalists. "Journalists" are people who quote people like Greenspan, Bill Kristol, et al. as "experts" without reminding their readers how wrong these people have been about their areas of "expertise".)
There is a special place in hell for all of Bush's enablers who surely knew better but wanted to kiss up to power! I love it that Krugman can give Greenspan a little hell while he's still with us.
For the full article:
http://select.nytimes.com/...
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http://economistsview.typepad.com/...