Greenspan's Testimony.
What did the Chairman say and when did he say.
The complete quotes, unobfuscated by the
Liberal media and SI Liberal threads.
A positive testimony,
IMO,
back later,
TA
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First
The Fed report
Part 1
federalreserve.gov
Part 2
federalreserve.gov
Then the question and answer sesion:
Tuesday February 13 12:28 PM ET
Greenspan: 'Low Probability' of Recession
dailynews.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan
(news - web sites) stressed on Tuesday that the chances of the U.S. economy sinking into a
recession were low.
Greenspan, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, called the chances of a recession a
``low probability event'' but repeated earlier comments to lawmakers that should a downturn
occur, a tax cut could help the United States dig itself out.
``In the event, and it is a low probability event, that we not only go into a recession but stay there
for an extended period of time, that it is better to have had lower taxes than otherwise,'' he said.
``In short, it would be an insurance,'' Greenspan said. ''Insurance against a low-probability
event, which indeed is what insurance is really about.''
Greenspan also said it was unlikely that the United States would see the budget surpluses that
are currently projected, but said the administration and the Congress must plan now, rather than
later, for the possibility those surpluses emerge.
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Tuesday February 13, 12:44 pm Eastern Time
biz.yahoo.com
Greenspan-Cap gains tax faulty way to raise revenue
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Tuesday
told lawmakers that capital gains taxes are an ineffective way to raise revenues for the federal
government.
``I have always argued that capital gains taxation is a poor means of raising revenue,'' Greenspan
told the Senate Banking Committee in answering questions after delivering his semiannual
monetary policy testimony.
``I think that taxes on capital, of the form which that is, is not something which I would consider
to be an appropriate economic form of taxation,'' he added.
=======================================================
Tuesday February 13, 12:43 pm Eastern Time
biz.yahoo.com
Greenspan-Tax cuts better than spending increases
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on
Tuesday that it is better, in a situation of surplus, to cut taxes than to increase government
spending, which can swiftly get out of hand.
``I have always argued, and continue to argue, that we are far better off when confronted with
this type of situation to cut taxes rather than increase expenditures,'' Greenspan said in a
question-and-answer period following his formal testimony on the state of the economy to the
Senate Banking Committee.
``I have always said in the next sentence that economics is not the only criteria involved in these
judgments. But what I do think is required is to constrain expenditures because in my
judgment it is very easy for expenditures to get out of hand and run up very rapidly,'' he
added.
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Tuesday February 13, 1:03 pm Eastern Time
biz.yahoo.com
Greenspan-Productivity rise led to big tax receipts.
" Up to Congress to decide what to do with it "
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A huge rise in productivity has led to ``unanticipated,
excessive'' tax rate receipts, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a Senate
panel on Tuesday, a key issue as lawmakers weigh President George W. Bush's $1.6 trillion tax
cut plan.
``What has happened is that productivity growth has accelerated quite significantly and so
the existing set of tax rates has engendered a very much more rapid rise in revenue,''
Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee after delivering his monetary policy testimony
there.
Greenspan said that it is now up to Congress decide how to allocate this surplus in tax
receipts.
``I think the Congress is confronted with a choice of whether in fact you give back what in
retrospect turned out to be an unintended excessive level of receipts or whether those are
employed for other purposes,'' he said.
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Tuesday February 13, 1:41 pm Eastern Time
Greenspan downplays problems of debt elimination
biz.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on
Tuesday the benefits of completely paying off the U.S. debt far outweigh any problems it
would create for financial markets or the Fed.
Some bond market analysts have argued that paying the debt down to zero would create
enormous difficulties for all major investors in U.S. Treasuries including the Fed, foreign central
banks and other foreign institutions.
Greenspan, who was giving his twice-yearly testimony to U.S. lawmakers on monetary policy,
said earlier debt reduction also poses challenges for the implementation of monetary policy
because the Fed relies heavily on Treasuries to conduct money market operations that keep
interest rates near their target.
``In my judgment, the value of reducing the debt to zero is so great that costs involved to the bond
community or to the Federal Open Market Committee...the trade-off very clearly says that by far
the most important thing is to get the debt down,'' the Fed chief said.
Greenspan said the prospects of a shrinking supply of government debt have created a ``scarcity
premium'' on the old benchmark 30-year bond, which pushed its interest rate down significantly.
``With the reductions that have occurred, we are in a position where it no longer serves the use it
did, that the 10-year Treasury is becoming increasingly the benchmark.''
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Tuesday February 13, 1:34 pm Eastern Time
biz.yahoo.com
Greenspan-No serious problems with credit tightening
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Tuesday
assured lawmakers that he saw no serious problems with credit tightening, even as the U.S.
economy slowed in the latter part of last year.
``They are tightened, they've put some pressure on some borrowers, but overall the quality of
credit is easing if anything,'' Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee after delivering his
monetary policy testimony.
Greenspan noted that among commercial banks there are the ``usual credit quality problems'' that
occur when the rates of growth slow down.
``But again, we are not in a position where anything terribly worrisome is occurring,'' he said.
``We hope that as this pall of uncertainty which has gripped the economy gradually dissipates, as
it will eventually ... then the markets ease up and we are back to normal.''
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TA |
