Greenspan Question....

[Bigmack]

I listened to Greenspan on “60 minutes” and just saw him again on Lehrer.

He said something like...”in the last years of the 1990’s, the US had surpluses, and I was alarmed at the possibility that the debt itself would be entirely wiped out. I knew that the government would then buy up private investment. That’s why I approved the Bush tax cut.”

WTF?

I know he’s all Ayn Rand/free market, but why would wiping out the debt and running yearly surpluses hurt the country? Why would the government start buying up private stuff? Why couldn’t the US buy up foreign paper and assets? Isn’t that a good thing?

I know Greenspan wouldn’t approve things like pissing away a surplus feeding hungry people or giving them health care, but why not use it to make the country strong?

I majored in History, not Econ. Help me out.