GREENSPAN WARNING TO LIBERALS!
NY POST EDITORIAL
February 28, 2004 -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a
long-trusted voice, earned a hat trick Wednesday when he praised low
tax rates, urged curbs on entitlements and said that, by comparison,
this year's deficit is of less concern.
"The crucial issue here is the rate of growth of productivity and . . .
of the economy," he said, "and what history does tell us is that
keeping tax rates down will tend to maximize that."
Hear, hear.
It's hard to think of a stronger endorsement of President Bush's tax
cuts - or one from a more credible figure than Greenspan, who served as
chairman under four presidents of both parties.
But the fed chief set off a firestorm in calling for Social Security
and Medicare curbs, even though he was merely restating recommendations
made two decades ago by a panel he headed, warning of an impending
Social Security crisis.
And the warnings are justified: Congress still has not dealt with the
huge dilemma to be triggered by the Baby Boom's retirement - one that
Greenspan warns will "place enormous demands on our nation's
resources."
Predictably, the Democrats - led by presidential candidates John Kerry
and John Edwards - have responded with hysterical denunciations of any
Social Security cuts, coupled with promises that "we're simply not
going to do it."
Just as predictably, they also laid the blame for the entire problem on
- you guessed it - the Bush tax cuts.
This despite the fact that Greenspan - who's as sharp-clawed a deficit
hawk as they come - specifically warned that raising taxes to close the
gap "arguably pose[s] significant risks to economic growth and the
revenue base."
Indeed, he said, such risks "are of enough concern . . . to warrant
aiming to close the fiscal gap primarily, if not wholly, from the
outlay side."
In other words, slash spending before raising taxes, or rescinding tax
cuts.
The idea that the safety net on which American workers depend may not
be there fully when they retire is frightening. Which is why even
President Bush injected a note of caution, and congressional GOP
leaders vowed that current benefits "are safe."
Still, Greenspan has re-sounded a vital alarm. If Congress doesn't get
serious about Social Security, its options may soon run from bad to . .
.. catastrophic.
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