Greenspan Endorses McCain, Says Recession Looms
Alan Greenspan has spoken…
“I’m Republican and I support John McCain, who I know very well and who I respect a lot.”
MADRID - There is more than a 50 percent chance the United States could go into recession, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
However, the U.S. has not yet entered recessionary state marked by sharp falls in orders, strong rises in unemployment and intensive weakening of the economy, he said.
“We would have to see signs of this intensification: there are some, but not many yet,” he said. “Therefore … I would not describe the situation we are in as a recession, although the chances that we’ll have one are more than 50 percent.”
A sharp downturn in the U.S. housing market has led to a full-blown credit crisis that has reverberated throughout the U.S. financial system.
The economy has become increasingly important in the U.S. presidential campaign, topping the list of voters’ concerns heading into the November election.
Greenspan, the U.S. Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006, endorsed the Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the interview.
“I’m Republican and I support John McCain, who I know very well and who I respect a lot,” he said.
The economies of the United States and the European Union were at a crossroads after a long period of economic growth without inflation, he said.
“This period is going to be much more difficult, from the point of view of monetary policy, than the period during which I was chairman of the Federal Reserve,” he said.
(Reuters)
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Greenspan is WRONG! No recession. Great 2nd half.
April 6th, 2008 at 9:09 pmFive percent of mortgages in trouble, ninety-five percent aren’t. Five percent unemployment, but ninety-five percent employed.
RJI, I heard the same thing from just as credible people.
April 6th, 2008 at 9:28 pmWill fix recession, carbon cap and trade.
Last time it was Greenspan who didn’t know high oil prices would cripple economy, yet he continued to jack up interest rates. This time he fails to see the same thing. How does $1000 a month heating bills help the economy.
Look up ADDI 2003 to see how making home loan qualification discrimination helped the housing crisis to bloom.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pmA conservative would never let the national debt of a country rise over 9 trillion……(+60 %)
April 7th, 2008 at 12:31 amA patriot that defends the interests of his country will never make it vulnerable and economical weak so that the Saudi en the Chinese can buy more power……
Stop using eastern oil en use sun en wind etc. This may sound too liberal for the ones with a lower IQ but will make the whole West finally less dependant of the wrong countries..
Imagine what would have happened if Bush invested all this hundres of billions ,8 years ago on solar and other technology? It would have made the US the technological leader of the world and would have let Russia, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia etc far behind…..
greenspan, thanks for your opinion, appreciate you making people hesitant and nervous with their money and investments, now go away.
…
Chris, nice try, get a little deeper and not just fly off with something you read on a bumper sticker. Accusing others of having a low IQ is symptomatic of an elitist who sits in judgments of others. I have found those people are some of the dumbest people I have met. I test in the upper 150’s.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:00 amWow Steve; you are my new hero - upper 150’s is impressive. I have no idea where I test at but would guess that it is significantly lower; hence, I work in the wonderful world of personal finance!
In any event; my concern comes not so much from the energy situation, although that is real, but from the fact that foreign countries (ie: China) own billions of US Treasuries and holdings. THis creates some serious leverage in that our economy would be tremendously impacted should they decide to “dump” these back onto the world market. Obviously, this would impact them as well but the effect on us would be severe.
I know that our national debt is a relatively small percentage of our GDP; my concern is regarding who we are indebted to.
By the way; my compliment was sincere - I enjoy reading your stuff.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:36 amMake the tax cuts permanent and much of this uncertainty will go away.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:29 amJCD is right.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:07 amOK Steve just trying to be a bit provocative not wanting to accuse others of low IQ’s (I am not going to show off mine), just fed up with people not willing to think about alternative energy resources and putting other directly into the left political corner.
Right is Right->The National Debt is in no way a small percentage its over 60% whereas it used to be in the 30’s in the 70’s.
Steve- But whats your opinion in this? I read articles, books and newspapers no bumperstickers bye the way
April 7th, 2008 at 8:09 amI wonder if making us co dependent economically with China was by design, or just natural occurrence.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:44 amIf’n I ran the U.S., we would immediately go north to Alaska, bring a bunch of teamsters to work on the project. Head to the Gulf of Mexico also and begin to draw on our fossil fuel resources. This would pressure the opec states to either lower production to keep up prices, or increase production, lowering prices in an attempt to slow our development. Either way would not matter. We would then create a coalition of big brains, and commercial energy companies to bring forth tenable options and solutions to our growing energy needs. To be valid they would have to make their products and solutions marketable to overcome the efficiency of fossil fuels. A reasonable tariff on our own oil would help fund research. The new wealth created would be incentive enough without massive regulations. In a perfect world it would could also make us more powerful than opec as a supplier of cheap power.
The NASA example is often given, and it really is valid, the return on technological development from NASA projects is huge. I remember once reading that for each $1 into NASA, it returned $7 to our GDP. As we then advance alternatives the use of fossil fuels would drop and we could become even more green. Our economy cannot just turn 180 degrees from usage of fossil fuels overnight without massive stress and reduced growth.
First thing I would do, by Presidential decree, is put giant wind farms offshore of the Kennedy compound and Streisand’s residence.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:41 amSteve-> Your opinion about alternative energy is more or less the same as mine, for a couple of years now. I hope the US will go for this and be the worlds number one leader again. (I am not from the US) The free West simply cannot rely on other countries.
Dont feel personally offended with my IQ remark, its a general remark based on my conversations with ( yes educated people) Americans; every time I started with alternative energy resources, I was put in the Left corner and that was the end of discussion. I am happy there are more Americans thinking deeper.
My thoughts are not deep enough,I still cant figure out why the US continues to be so oil based. The only strategical reason I can think off is to dry out foreign oil resources. But thats a risky one and will take too long. (Strategical reason as in the general interest for a country not as in the interest for an American oil-elite. Curious about your opinion in this.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:52 amSteve;
natural development, surely. US biggest $ economy, China biggest population. Bound to develop dependencies.
Energy: “Bakken”, and FocusFusion . Check them out. The former is long-term oil independence. The latter is the end of the World Oil Economy.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am