Greenspan: Chances of recession 'less than 50-50'

Blitzer says people are nervous about the American economy. What people, besides him and his leftwing CNN cohorts, that is? Concerned about what? Record and growing employment? Real wages increasing more than 4 percent? Growth in major industries? Stock market at a record high? Stock investments earning great dividends for 150 million average persons? I get sick of reporters who present their own opinions and then try to speak for the rest of us. And as for Greenspan, he's just turned into a shill trying to sell more copies of his poorly documented book.

Why is everyone afraid to tell the true? Meaning, the U.S. economy is faltering mostly because our capitalistic system designed to make profits, without ethics, is crippling creativity, and innovation using intellectual property rights.

This happens because all intellectual property rights are owned by only a few who monopolize the marketplace.

An economy operating under intellectual property rules is not Pareto efficient.

Creativity has come to a standstill in this country for those who wish to work within, and benefit from, the confines of the law. Legitimate creative derivative works are now smothered by the excessive terms, restrictions and punishments of our copyright system.

In addition, instead of out sourcing our American jobs overseas who benefit Communist Red China's build up, why shouldn't we Americans create the best environment at home?

IPR is why denies all Americans from doing just that, so American jobs are outsourced, auctioned off to cheap labor markets, and the very innovations are blocked, censored and even denied for us Americans to learn, understand and share!

We Americans have become consumers, rather than inventors, educators and most of all doers!

The solution is to change the government policies that are used to create the environment we got today.

An environment which we are at war, in Iraq over oil, an environment which the people are treated as pirates, and an environment our government has created to deny us the best education to be creative.

China didn't care about IPR, and was able to go from poverty to trillions. China owns more than 1.6 Trillion dollars worth of our U.S. Securities (Treasury Bonds) which is paying for the Iraq blunder that continues to go on.

What is there to be concerned about with the US economy? Inflation as the American dollar continues to lose value. The biggest debt in all history. Higher oil prices that are too staggering for most to imagine. There has been growth in the major industries because large corporations are making big bucks on the International scene,not here at home. You only need to look at our car industry! Food prices are getting obscene. Health is going to be a back-breaking "heartbreak" issue if something isn't done and soon---not just Medicare, but also the million and millions of Americans with no health insurance. There appears to be more jobs but lower and lower salaries---who is going to pay for all the goods coming from China, and India? Not the Americans that go to war to fight for freedom and the good life; just the rich will be able to enjoy the good life. But for how long? And, at what cost? Are we selling out America?

I don't accept Greenspan's
outlook at all about
50% recession possible.
With all his "expertise" and all the economic tools to work with, he didn't see the credit/housing crisis coming? Come on what was he doing for the many years that the coming crisis was building -- what was he looking at?
He's a bum and a loser for economic information.

Greenspan and other economists are involved in a guessing game that uses numbers to justify their assumptions. They do not live in any realistic world that I live in or see. There are plenty of people earning less than $35,000 who can't pay off debt while trying to find affordable housing, put food on the table and clothe their children. No one pays much attention to how much housing prices have climbed and priced most Americans out of living near their jobs, affecting congestion on the roads and quality of life.

Harrison must be getting his news from comedian Rush Limpbaugh.

For you 26%ers, 'core inflation' rates do not take into consideration either fuel or food expenses. The dollar is now worth LESS than the Loonie. The ratio to the Euro is 1:1.5. Real income growth has essentially been zero for years, not 4%.

Therefore, when the American consumer has to cut back on purchasing crap from Mall Wart in order to afford those non essential items like food and fuel, just exactly does Mr. Greenspan think is going to happen? Don't forget, this is the same guy who encouraged Americans to get ARMs back in 2004.

So, I apologize. Mr. Harrison, you just keep spending like there's no tomorrow. I think I'll continue to save my pennies to do some bottom feeding when the recession hits. Oh, and it will hit.

Thanks for running the odds, Al.

Shut up fool! You are out now! Shut up!

Weiner,

Reason fuel and food as you say are not part of core inflation is that they are very volitale commodities.

As far as Wal-Mart, they are actually losing sales to the smaller stores even though the goods costs more. Article in last week WSJ.

Yes a recession will hit, unlike people were predicting the late 90's, we have not figured out how to break econonmic cycles yet. I'll guess it will be over a year.

"Alan Greenspan, who served for 19 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve and has made a new splash with a memoir critical of Republicans and the Bush White House for not getting better control over federal spending, says today that the odds of a recession in coming months are "less than 50-50.''

Of course, that comment belies the way he sees currents moving: A while back, he would have said the chances were about one-third, Greenspan says on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Biltzer, in an interview on the show airing from11 am to 1 pm EDT today.

He also speaks of the impact of the costs of the war in Iraq."

Alan Greenspan is underestimating Bush. Alan give him time. Bush could mess up a microwave dinner!!!

NOW IT IS TIME TO PUT A SOCK IN THAT SENILE OLD MANS MOUTH,HE NO LONGER IS EMPLOYED BY OUR TAX DOLLARS,AND LET THE NEW CHAIR MEN SCREW UP THE US BY HIM SELF.
BOB

What is shocking to me is that AG recommends flooding the US with educated immigrants to solve the inequality problem of the haves and have nots, thereby depressing the middle class to lower levels. What about the wealthy elites that he himself are part of? If we depress their income with regard to the low income worker the inequality gap will be solved as well?

If our country was so good at hiring its own people, it wouldn't have Bill Gates of Microsoft going in front of Congress numerous times begging for them to raise the H-1B and L-1 visa quotas, so Microsoft can import more foreign labor that they can pay less for than their American counterparts.

I know that the visa program says that employers like Microsoft are required to pay these H-1B and L-1 visa workers the same as American workers, but enforcement of this regulation is non-existent. Thus, the multi-billion dollar companies can get richer while the American worker gets the shaft.

A real chimpanzee and Greenspan could not have devalued the US dollar more.

I am a self-employing IT-pro 45 years, family, house etc. Everything OK but I am no rich in any ways.

We in Finland saw in 1989-1990 what will happen in whole U.S. in next two years. Interest rates were max. 15%. These was hard times. Unemployment was nearly 20% and country was in bad recession. All that because Soviet Union, our biggest exporting country collapsed. Finland was anyway part of capitalist world then. At same time money markets was freed and we had housing bubbles like you have now.
We saw many bankcrupties and we still suffer a bit of those times. About 1995 started better times in economy. Now we are successfull and we have worldwide companies, Nokia as a flagship.

You Americans should start heavy education program right now, you will see results in 15 years.

I think dollar will collapse when Chinese will decide that it is a junk-money. That will happen after christmas when all the stuff is sold and paid.

U.S. government has right to print 1.000.000. dollar bills to pay all the debt.
North-American new currency AMERO, like European Euro will start a new healthy economy life in US.

But please stop Iraq and all other wars, You can´t afford them. You are no longer world polices. Oil time is over.

Please comment, these are thoughts over the big water

Hannu- Some things to think about. Thank you for the encouragement. Hope your after-Christmas prediction does not come true for us. Staying positive w/o putting head in sand, and staying away from 'Great Wall of Mart'. Hope, too, that the "Amero" is not half way between a dollar and a peso. I really pray that any currency I ever use is not called the "Amero". Its way to corny; and why rhyme with euro? Anyway, would a proposed "Amero" be the reason the US dollar has been brought down? I'd like to know where Canada is on this. They would be smart going with England EU or Hong Kong. Whats a little ocean anyway?

Yes, I know you love your Dollar. It has been your money for hundreds of years. But Germans loved also their D-Mark, now they have Euro as we Finns have.
It took a few years to be comfortable with it.
When Euro was started 2001 (about, don´t remember?), I really liked when I was in vacation in Tenerife island (Spain) and I took my very first Euros from Spanish ATM machine using my Visa card. When I came back home few days later, NO MORE CURRENCY EXCHANGE anymore! My OWN money.
Before trip I had Finnish marks, after that Euros.
Euros Rules!

Same money (whatever its name) should be in use all over the world. Only each country´s competitiviness would be the factor. So let´s do our job well and being honest in businesses.

BC,

Bill Gates wouldn't be looking for those visas if he had educated Americans to hire.

Another failure of the gov't run educational system.

Yes, Bill G is a "dropout" of university.
So are Michael Dell and Hannu Rytilä. We all should be MBA:s or whatwever.
Michael is World´s biggest PC maker and I am the smallest (1 person).
I have built about 800 machines in 15 years and I have satisfied customers because of service.

I think we both are quite
happy in our lives.