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

Alan Greenspan

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Alan Greenspan
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: March 6
Banker
Economist
Entrepreneur
Jazz Musician
Politician
New York City
New York
Realization
Surpluses
Almost
Destabilizing
Came
Deficits
Starks
Stark
Chronic
Surplus
Deficit

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I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world.
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We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.
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There is nothing to guarantee the superior judgment, knowledge, and integrity of an inspector or a bureaucrat-and the deadly consequences of entrusting him with arbitrary power are obvious.
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The only sustainable way to increase demand for vacant houses is to spur the formation of new households. Admitting more skilled immigrants, who tend to earn enough to buy homes, would accomplish that while paying other dividends to the U.S. economy.
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I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.
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Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers solves two problems. The companies could hire the educated workers they need. And those workers would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.
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I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said.
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Without calling the overall national issue a bubble, it's pretty clear that it's an unsustainable underlying pattern.
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The guiding purpose of the government regulator is to prevent rather than to create something.
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In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.
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Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here.
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The probability of ten consecutive heads is 0.1 percent thus, when you have millions of coin tossers, or investors, in the end there will be thousands of very successful practitioners of coin tossing, or stock picking.
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While local economies may experience significant price imbalances, a national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States, given its size and diversity.
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In an economy that already has lost some momentum, one must remain alert to the possibility that greater caution and weakening asset values in financial markets could signal or precipitate an excessive softening in household and business spending.
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[Republicans] swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.
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Now, I only play very occasionally, and in fact, more piano than clarinet or sax.
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We need, in effect, to make the phantom 'lock-boxes' around the trust fund real.
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Although the outlook is clouded by a number of uncertainties, the central tendencies of the projections .. imply continued good economic performance in the United States.
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You can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust.
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Greenspan, who knew so much more than most, knew far less than most supposed.
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