Grownup Republican Watch: Alan Greenspan
He tells the Joint Economic Committee:
Latest News and Financial Information | Reuters.com: "Greenspan calls for pay-go, U.S. budget restraint: Thu Jun 9, 2005 11:01 AM ET: WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday called for budget restraint, saying the United States will face severe fiscal pressure as the huge post-World War II baby boom generation retires. Greenspan, in comments to the congressional Joint Economic Committee, reiterated his call for the renewal of pay-as-you-go, often called pay-go, provisions that compel lawmakers to show how they will fund any spending initiatives or tax cuts. 'I have argued ... that fiscal policy as it moves into the early part of the next decade is going to run into very severe problems unless we restore pay-go and other means of restraint on the system,' Greenspan said. 'Something very unusual is about to happen to this country in that we're going to get a huge exodus from the labor force and remember that the baby boom generation was followed by the baby bust generation, which means we have fewer workers on average ever increasingly as we move into the next decade and beyond, to produce the goods and services that are required, not only for the workers and their families but for the huge increase in retirees,' Greenspan said.
