Greenspan: The New Neo-Con

In another neo-conservative moment, Alan Greenspan has significantly reduced his credibility as a monetary policy maker by focusing on spending cuts rather than irresponsible tax policy as the root cause of the Bush deficits (sound familiar?). Greenspan offered little in the way of warning for the continuation of Bush's reckless tax cut policies that benefit the wealthy. Voodoo economics (a term coined by George H.W. Bush,by the way) do nothing to stimulate growth while inflating the deficits. The solution to the deficits of today and the fiscal challenges of tomorrow is to remove the Bush tax cuts, increase the taxation of the wealthy to more reasonable levels (i.e., the levels before the cuts Reagan made). Furthermore, the private health care and health insurance systems need to be nationalized (strong words from an economist, I know) in order to reign in the administrative costs of health care. Furthermore the FICA tax (that pays for Social Security) needs to be extended, but not to the middle class. Instead, it should be raised to incomes of $120,000 per year and also to those making more than $200,000 per year. This would increase the tax base of the FICA tax while exempting much of the middle class from this burden. This would insure the solvency of Social Security for an indefinite period, while shifting some of the burden onto those who can afford it more than the marjority who fund it currently. Any talk Bush gives of "spending cuts" only relate to cuts of popular programs benefitting the working and middle classses. That is not where the defict lies and that is not where the cuts should be from. End of Story!