I was all set to compose yet another screed on yet another former government official whose recent mea culpa provoked yet another response of "now he tells us."
But why compete with Mr. Krugman?
Money quote:
As it turns out, Mr. Greenspan's fears that the federal government would quickly pay off its debt were, shall we say, exaggerated. And Mr. Greenspan has just published a book in which he castigates the Bush administration for its fiscal irresponsibility.
Well, I'm sorry, but that criticism comes six years late and a trillion dollars short.
4 comments:
It was great to read Krugman this a.m. Greenspan is like Colin Powell, in my mind: solid small-government Republicans for whom I could have some respect because at least they had articulated, reasoned values -- until they both blew their cred wide open. Greenspan on the budget and Powell on WMD.
Couldn't the trillion amount be attributed to the 'war'? Not that it was necessary but it begins to explain about half (maybe a third) of the additional debt incurred in the past six years. Sadly, Clinton had made great progress in paying down the debt (I believe it was down in the 2-3 trillion range?) but those days are gone
Sornie:
I think you're partly right, although one wonders what would have happened under eight more years of Clinton-style budgets and taxes.
Also, I think we can grant PK some pithiness license.
Follow-up on the Krugman trillion:
I was reminded that Krugman was right about the trillion, independent of war costs. In fact, his pithiness resulted in under-reporting the cost of the tax cut.
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