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Once again a bit of special pleading. Stiglitz was in the government (Clinton's) when Greenspan ran the fed. That's when his speaking up might have had some effect.

Instead he waits until not only has the horse left the barn, but the barn is in flames to point to Greenspan. There is a movement in the US right now for right wingers and centrists to try to distance themselves from a failed administration.

I'm not sure what the theological position on deathbed conversions is...

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape

by rdf (robert.feinman@gmail.com) on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 01:19:44 PM EST
Depends who's on the bed.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 01:51:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Stiglitz was fired by Lawrence Summers, and did start writing about these things really vigorously early in the Bush presidency (and, in muted form, before that), so it's not quite the same as those that have been jumping ship in the past couple years.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 02:37:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Greenspan during the Clinton years was also a very different character, publicly, from the Greenspan of the Bush presidency.  For some reason, he was all about fiscal responsibility when a Democrat was in the White House, but, the moment tax cuts were on the table, he jumped ship.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 03:26:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the two actions are of a piece.

when a democrat was in a position to expand social welfare spending, greenspan's call for responsibility was meant to forestall it. right wing strategy, same as dole filibustering universal health care in '93-'94.

once bush was in office, he could be trusted not to waste money on the non-rich, so greenspan opened up the floodgates. same strategy, just different tactics in a differnt context.

and when a democrat gets back in power, the money will be gone, and so those social welfare programs will be impossible to fund. game, set match.

by wu ming on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 03:50:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You don't seem to realize that serious people just have to feel alarmed when leftists are in power wasting money that isn't theirs to spend.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Nov 16th, 2007 at 04:23:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's a shame, too.  Greenspan could've had, along with Clinton, quite an enviable legacy on the nation's finances.  Nothing radical in change, but a debt-free America would've been pretty nice right about now.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Sat Nov 17th, 2007 at 10:28:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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