Alan Greenspan Deficit Quotations

I came to a stark realization: chronic surpluses could be almost as destabilizing as chronic deficits.

Lowering the deficit further in the near term, however, will be difficult in light of the need to pay for post-hurricane reconstruction and relief,

If we can maintain an adequate degree of flexibility, some of America 's economic imbalances, most notably the large current account deficit and the housing boom, can be rectified by adjustments in prices, interest rates, and exchange rates rather than through more-wrenching changes in output, incomes, and employment.

I am fully aware of the fact that it may not be possible to keep the tax rate down and still maintain some semblance of deficit control, ... But ... I would strongly recommend that the priority of evaluations start with the expenditure side: what can be constrained, what can be reduced.

We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing, ... We do not have the capability of having both productive tax cuts and large expenditure increases, and presume that the deficit doesn't matter.

This situation suggests that international investors will eventually adjust their accumulation of dollar assets or, alternatively, seek higher dollar returns to offset concentration risk, elevating the cost of financing of the U.S. current account deficit and rendering it increasingly less tenable,