Cheney op-ed: Greenspan's economic assessment 'off the mark' Jason Rhyne

Published: Wednesday September 19, 2007





Print This Email This In a rebuttal op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Vice Pesident Dick Cheney takes on former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who slammed Bush administration economic policies as fiscally irresponsible in a recent book, "The Age of Turbulence." "I think his assessment is off the mark," Cheney writes, going on to characterize the economic downturn early in Bush's first term as having begun in the final months of the Clinton administration. "The Fed chairman told the president-elect and our team that America faced the real possibility of a recession in the wake of the collapse of the late 1990s technology sector bubble," Cheney says in the Journal."Alan's prediction proved correct: In the final months of the Clinton administration, the nation began an economic slowdown that turned into a recession." Another economy-slowing factor, says Cheney, were the Sept. 11 attacks. "Less than eight months into our administration the nation came under terrorist attack," he said. "The events of 9/11 are the defining moment of the era from the standpoint of national security; they were equally significant from an economic perspective." "The combined effects of recession and national emergency could have been devastating for America's economy," Cheney continues, yet "President Bush's tax cuts--following through on a promise he had made to the voters--resulted in a shallower recession, a faster recovery, and a platform for growth that remains sturdy to this day." Citing what he calls the "highest growth in tax receipts in consecutive years since 1981," the vice president said that even at Bush's lower tax rates "the hard work and productivity of Americans is generating more tax dollars than ever before." Greenspan had also sharply critiqued government spending on Bush's watch--an observation Cheney says he "can't dispute," although he goes on to argue that "President Bush has pressed hard to keep that spending under control -- and this year's increase will actually be lower than the rate of inflation for the third year in a row." Recalling Greenspan's argument that fiscal discipline is a "long-term obligation requiring honesty and a willingness to make tough choices," Cheney insists that by that definition, "President Bush's record is superb." Cheney closes on a light note, saying he enjoyed Greenspan crediting him in the book with "intensity" and a "sphinxlike charm."



