Übersehen? Greenspan: Rede vor dem Repräsentantenh

Greenspan blames threat of war for recovery delay

Charlotte Denny
Wednesday February 12, 2003
The Guardian
Alan Greenspan, the world's most powerful central banker, yesterday blamed the threat of war for delaying the US recovery and delivered a stern warning to President Bush about the dangers of America's ballooning budget deficit. In his half-yearly testimony to Congress, the veteran chairman of the US Federal Reserve said uncertainty about war was clouding the economic outlook and putting firms off spending on plant and equipment.
"The heightening of geopolitical tensions has only added to the marked uncertainties that have piled up over the past three years, creating formidable barriers to new investment and thus to a resumption of vigorous expansion of overall economic activity," he told the Senate banking committee.
Financial markets were experiencing a bout of "skittishness" he said. He dashed hopes of an immediate cut in borrowing costs to boost confidence, saying calls for extra stimulus were "premature."
With the costs of the war on terror likely to put further pressure on public spending, Mr Greenspan signalled that he was unhappy about the record deficits the Bush administration had pencilled into its budget forecasts.
"There should be little disagreement about the need to re-establish budget discipline. The events of September 11 have placed demands on our budgetary resources that were unanticipated a few years ago."
Although Mr Greenspan declined to comment directly on the White House's $695bn package of tax cuts, he dismissed suggestions from conservative economists that higher growth might eliminate America's record deficit without the need for the government to tighten its belt.