Alan Greenspan Quotes

"[Bush said his choice as the nation's new central banker] commands deep respect in the financial community. ... has shepherded our economy through its highs and its lows."

"hesitancy to face up to the difficult choices that will be required to resolve our looming fiscal problems."

"There are no easy choices. Easy choices are long gone,"

"In these circumstances, monetary policy is able to be more patient,"

"At present, the Social Security trustees estimate that the unfunded liability over the indefinite future to be $10.4 trillion, ... The shortfall in Medicare is calculated at several multiples of the one in Social Security."

"History has not dealt kindly"

"He has been one of the most effective secretaries of the Treasury in this nation's history,"

"signs of froth in some local markets where home prices seem to have risen to unsustainable levels."

"[On whether recent gains in housing prices have produce a] bubble, ... we certainly cannot rule out home price declines, especially in some local markets, these declines, were they to occur, likely would not have substantial macroeconomic implications."

"Although we cannot rule out home-price declines,"

"Emperors and armies come and go, ... but unless they leave new ideas in their wake, they are of passing historic consequence. The short list of intellectuals who have materially advanced the betterment of civilization unquestionably includes Adam Smith."

"Today, economic value is best symbolized by exceedingly complex, miniaturized integrated circuits and the ideas -- the software -- that utilize them, ... Most of what we currently perceive as value and wealth is intellectual and impalpable."

"Through most of last year's slowdown, in contrast to the usual pattern, the household sector was a major stabilizing force, ... As a consequence, although household spending should continue to trend up, the potential for significant acceleration in activity in this sector is more limited."

"We owe it to those who will retire over the next couple of decades to promise only what the government can deliver,"

"Indeed only such highly liquid portfolios would be consistent with (government-sponsored enterprises') mission of providing primary mortgage market liquidity during a crisis, particularly a financial crisis,"

"one of the most successful government agencies in history."

"There's an awful lot of information"

"With production running well below sales, the lift to income and spending from the inevitable cessation of inventory liquidation could be significant,"

"As the value of assets and liabilities have risen relative to income, we have been confronted with the potential for our economies to exhibit larger and perhaps more abrupt responses to changes in factors affecting the balance sheets of households and businesses,"

"The current economic performance, with its combination of strong growth and low inflation, is as impressive as any I have witnessed in my near half-century of daily observation of the American economy,"