Fed's Massive Stimulus Had Little Impact: Greenspan

Source: cnbc

The Federal Reserve's massive stimulus program had little impact on the U.S. economy besides weakening the dollar and helping U.S. exports, Federal Reserve Governor Alan Greenspan told CNBC Thursday.

In a blunt critique of his successor, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Greenspan said the $2 trillion in quantative easing over the past two years had done little to loosen credit and boost the economy.

"There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked," Greenspan said in a live interview.

"It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion," he said. "Aside from that, I am ill-aware of anything that really worked. Not only QE2 but QE1."



Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43598606

Serious.

Im surprised that an old (really, really OLD...) supplysider like Alan coudnt recognize a trickle down plan like the QE's.

Those two quantitative easing programs were straight out of his own playbook, feeding massive sums of free money to the top income groups and hoping some small amount sprinkles down on the commoners.

Other then THAT, nothing has changed.

nuff said

Does anyone else remember when Greenspan said that Bush's tax cuts wouldn't harm the U.S. I blame Greenspan for losing our surplus and causing so much debt.

Never, NEVER give money to money! It should be learned from birth!

My stomach was in knots the day Bush announced tax cuts during war. Even I understood that was a disaster. The greed was just too strong for ANYONE to stand up and say no.

is a 1000 times more relevant.

We need something like the Conservation Corps.

We need to actually go out and hire people, instead of giving money to rich people and huge corporations, and hoping they use it to hire people.

unemployed, underemployed, and dis-heartened people can certainly stand as proof of that, Alan. And you did everything you could to make that happen, while enriching your friends.

You don't give the top-down stimulus the credit it deserves. There were about 30 million people in that U6 number in the last year or so - now it's only about 20 million because the stimulus helped move millions into lower paying jobs or into long-term unemployment, many of whom may have lost their homes to foreclosure. Shoot, man, there are 675,000 homeowners who have not made a payment on their homes in 2 years, and millions of homes are still left to foreclose on. And while this goes on we get to watch the market values continue to drop for everyone, maybe for another decade. A large part of this is due to the Ponzi Scheme that you encouraged, that we are still watching unfold. You really should take your part of the credit for that.

Alan, baby, don't ignore the growth we had while the money was flowing to the top. The number of people on food stamps is higher and still growing. And with only 1 job for about every 7 people, don't ignore the unprecedented increase in the number of people who would like to work but are too dis-spirited to keep beating their head against an unyielding wall of rejection or, worse, being ignored. You may not like what has happened with QE 1 & 2, but we all know you played a big part in creating the map of the road we are traveling down today.

So, if you will pardon me, I think there is enough evidence that not enough has been done, and what has been done has been done for the wrong people. Do you, by chance, have any ideas on how to repair the mayhem your career helped cause? Maybe something constructive, instead of this pap from the "No shit, Sherlock" category?

do not go & get an idiot's advice, nor reprint it, lest it be mistaken for wisdom

That ass clown will do anything he can to make his corporate/RW handlers look good.

When he says "stimulus" half the country thinks he's talking about the ARRA. Then you read into it, and you see he's talking about quantitative easing--but the Republicans are going to hold this article up and say, "See? It was that damn Obama Stimulus Program that fucked the country; we all knew building those roads and bridges wasn't going to do anything but sink the country deeper into recession."

Right now we're at the point where we've done everything the Republicans will allow and none of it worked, so we're going to have to try this another way: ignore the fucking Republicans and their "no new revenue!" bullshit, raise taxes on everyone making over $100,000 per year (and that is PRE TAX income, kids, not "taxable" income), tax the oil companies and GE at a flat 5 percent of gross income with no deductions allowed, and spend the fucking money.

as he himself explained it, was that the big magic invisible hand sees all and knows all and cures all

So he got paid the big bucks for years, during which he took the view that he himself did not need to pay attention to any of it or do anything -- and for that reason, he did pay attention to any of it or do anything

And we had the big collapse at The End of Bush Time. And Greenspan sorta shrugged and said, I was wrong -- which he now hopes we have forgotten since he himself wants to forget it. And now he's back to his Big Magic Invisible Hand ideas, which was predictable because he's a lazy fellow who got paid big bucks for years to pay no attention to anything and to do nothing

Don't attack the messenger for being right.

Helicopter Ben is a tool of Wall Street banks. Obama is a tool of Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs his biggest contributor. No one has been taking care of Main Street, the middle and working class.

he got us into the fucking mess. He should be prison.

Bury your heads in the sand, if you want. :shrug:

this old goat going to disappear.

- three out of four adults in my household have been laid off from our full time employment since the stimulus began. One had been employed in the same spot for over 20 years. One for 10 years. The fourth adult has had her hours reduced and her pay frozen. We are now working part time jobs for less than half of our prior hourly wage with far fewer weekly hours and are eating up our savings. We are rather frugal, living in the same home for 25 years and driving used cars.

Believe it or not, we're in the "affluent" D.C. suburbs, one of the spots in the country that has been "least" impacted by the economy. God help those who live in those areas that have been greatly impacted. There are no jobs full time jobs here. Very few part time jobs.

This is the worst economic situation with no recovery in sight in my 50+ year memory. The stimulus is a horrific failure. It achieved nothing and those who refuse to see it are blinded by their partisanship.