Alan Greenspan: Half Right
Typical. He gets it half right: Greenspan: Western World Headed for a State of Disaster
“The issue of foreign trade is something which has helped the country grow all the way back to 1790 and the presumption that of sudden we’re turning off on trade is very narrow-minded in my impression.” — Alan Greenspan
Yes, there is a retirement collapse coming, to the tune of $75 trillion in unfunded, unsustainable government employee pension liabilities, as well as Medicare, and Social Security obligations that neither the rich nor the workers of tomorrow will ever be able to pay for even with 90% tax rates. Some of us have been talking about this for more than 20 years, back when you, Greenspan, were running the economy into the ground for most working folks.
Second, no one – and I’ll repeat NO ONE – is saying “let’s end foreign trade” and no one ever has said this.
What we ARE saying is two-fold: 1) globalization and unfair – i.e. “free” that isn’t actually free – trade, that puts American workers in competition with foreign workers that make pennies on the dollar, erodes our standard of living, and this has been shown to be true with more than two decades of data; it also contributes to income and wealth inequality both here and around the globe; it also contributes to problems with the climate, since everything made overseas – that can be made here – must be transported and that transportation pollutes more than domestic manufacturing; and 2) the reciprocal tariff BUILT THIS COUNTRY. It was one of the only forms of taxation before 1913. And tariffs ARE constitutional (A1, S8, 9, 10). It’s perfectly fine to reinstitute them … anything else is treason against our own people.
** FILE ** Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee in this Nov. 3, 2005 file photo. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep boosting interest rates until Greenspan leaves at the end of January 2006. But it’s anybody’s guess whether the credit-tightening campaign will continue under his designated successor, Ben Bernanke. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)