the national debt has ballooned under his watch... he bailed out his buddies at ltcm and added fuel to the nasdaq bubble. americans are up to their eyeballs in personal debt... sorry if i am not getting misty eyed by his departure.
I agree he's left the US in a very dangerous position. Bernanke is left with a time bomb and it's not his fault. Greenspan's cure for all the problems was cut rates to boost the economy through consumer spending. The average american family has more than $8000 of credit card debt, the savings rate turned negative last year and 4/10 americans put down no deposit on their mortgages last year. The government has sold more debt to the market in the last 8 years of Bush's rule than in the previous 200 years combined. While this has not caused much inflation of consumer prices it has caused massive asset price inflation with housing just one example. With companies like ford laying off phenomenal numbers of their workforce and poor earnings from many sectors - save oil -something needs to give. The energy prices will filter through to the end user, it takes time to build nuclear plants and with geopolitics up in the air oil doesn't look like it's coming down any time soon especially with the demand increases from India and China. Greenspan said himself last year situations like this end in tears and asset prices will take the brunt of these losses which will have to be realised sooner or later. Frothy markets - blow the froth off your cappucino and smell the coffee.
http://financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2006/0127b.html http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm way to go alan.... let me guess... you're headed to disney world now?
Greenspan has neither the power to raise taxes, nor the power to cut spending, and has called for fiscal restraint more often than ETers have posted about the coming market crash. How is the debt his fault? I suppose some blame could be placed on all of the presidents from way back when for not leading us to financial balance, and more could be blamed on congressmen with their insatiable desire for pork BBQ. However, the vast majority of the blame belongs with the voters who vote in career politicians who make drunken sailors look like the tight-fisted Jewish stereotype. I'm not going to dig up the numbers or the source, but if you take the total government budget divided by the number of US citizens, and subtract how much they pay to the government, you find that something like 80% (plus or minus 10%) of Americans are "getting more" than they pay for. With a handout rate like that, there's no way to change without a whole lot of pain. And today's voter can't even handle the "pain" of diet and exercise, when he knows for a fact that it's good for him. Guess we get to wait until we have a fiscal stroke before we wake up.
Au contraire... I think Greenspan is the worst thing that has happened to the world since Hitler. And I'm afraid Bernanke may be even worse.
actually i dont blame it just on greenspan..but his bosses... i.e. the banks that make up the federal reserve. they are the ones that profit the most from a credit bubble. they are the ones that pull the strings...greencrook is just the figure head..but i still hold him accountable. as noticed recently, the politicians are crooked as hell and succumb to the lobbyist that ultimately goes back to the big multinationals. so pick your poison there... look at the war profiteers... theres a big portion of your most recent run up... and then we learn it was all for a bunch of lies.... wow.. theres a fucking surprise !!!!!!! but always follow the money trail... this debt can not be paid back.. so when the "real" tightening comes we will witness a grand transfer of wealth ( read: wealth = assets) "Farm Aid" anyone??? lol lol lol
I hadn't known of Goodwin's Law, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. I didn't "invoke comparison to", but rather mentioned a time reference. Does that count? My point may fall on deaf ears, but Greenspan's evil is the worst and most wide-spread during my lifetime.