Hillary Clinton blasts Greenspan on U.S. deficit

[heli]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2510668220100225?type=marketsNews

Hillary Clinton blasts Greenspan on U.S. deficit

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said she was heartbroken by the state of U.S. finances and laid the blame in part on "outrageous" advice from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Clinton, appearing before a congressional panel to defend the State Department's $52.8 billion budget request for the 2011 fiscal year, said the Obama administration was well aware of the fiscal pressures battering average Americans.

"It breaks my heart that 10 years ago we had a balanced budget, that we were on the way of paying down the debt of the United States of America," Clinton said. "I served on the budget committee in the Senate, and I remember as vividly as if it were yesterday when we had a hearing in which Alan Greenspan came and justified increasing spending and cutting taxes, saying that we didn't really need to pay down the debt -- outrageous in my view," she said.

Greenspan was named central bank chief by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and held the office until 2006, serving throughout the presidency of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Seen an economic oracle when in office, Greenspan's words regularly moved financial markets. But his image became tarnished after he retired, with many blaming him for helping inflate a housing bubble that eventually burst, setting off a grave financial crisis and plunging the economy into recession.

Public concern about the debt mounted after the government posted a record $1.4 trillion deficit for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The issue looms large ahead of congressional elections in November...

[AndyA]

1. Alan Greenspan = Mr. Andrea Mitchell (MSNBC reporter) n/m

[Barack_America]

4. But my how she loves to place the blame on everyone else.

She disgusts me.

[HeresyLives]

2. Everyone is always wise AFTER events tho.

No one seems to think ahead. And that's true all over the world unfortunately.

[pansypoo53219]

3. Ayss rand

acolyte. of course he sided with georgee's tax cuts. full employment BAD for the rich.

[indepat]

5. Thank you Madame Secretary for echoing essentially what I've been proffering on the

DU board for several years, usually ending my soliloquy with: Greenspan, a name that will live in infamy.