Memo to Alan Greenspan: Keep Quiet

"I'm getting tired of Alan Greenspan. First, the former Federal Reserve chairman blamed an allegedly unregulated free market for the housing and financial debacle. Now he favors repealing the Bush-era tax cuts. This has a certain sad irony. Recall that Greenspan once was an associate of Ayn Rand, the philosophical novelist who provided a moral defense of the free market, or as she put it, the separation of state and economy. Greenspan even contributed three essays to Rand's book 'Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal' -- one for the gold standard, one against antitrust laws, and one against government consumer protection. ... But now Greenspan, going beyond what even President Obama favors, calls on Congress to let the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts expire -- not just for upper-income people but for everyone. 'I'm in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money....' He says he supported the 2001 cuts because of pending budget surpluses, but now that huge deficits loom, new revenues are needed. Why? ... The deficit has grown not because we are undertaxed but because government overspends. ... [T]he stupidest thing said about tax cuts is the often-repeated claim that 'they ought to be paid for.' How absurd! Tax cuts merely let people keep money they rightfully own. It's government programs, not tax cuts, that must be paid for. The tax-hungry politicians' demand that cuts be 'paid for' implies the federal budget isn't $3 trillion, but $15 trillion -- the whole GDP -- with anything mercifully left in our pockets being some form of government spending. How monstrous! If cutting taxes leaves less money for government programs, the answer is simple: Ax the programs!" --columnist John Stossel- Read More Here