Dankdude
Well-Known Member
WASHINGTON - President Bush was surprised by the criticism leveled against him and his administration by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in his new book, the White House said Monday.
Greenspan accused Bush of not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits, saying he and Congress' former GOP leaders abandoned the party's conservative principles favoring small government.
"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan wrote in "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," being released Monday.
White House press secretary Dana Perino defended Bush's fiscal policies, and said that veto threats from the president were enough to keep spending from spiraling too high. Under Bush, government spending for the fight against terrorism increased, and Perino said the Bush administration doesn't apologize for acting on behalf of "the safety and security of the American people."
At the same time, government revenues declined because of a string of tax cuts, which Greenspan also criticizes in his book.
Large projected surpluses were the basis for Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut approved in the summer of 2001. Those surpluses never materialized, and have since turned into record deficits, so Greenspan wrote that the tax-cut goal was "no longer entirely appropriate."
Perino brought this up as one of the more perplexing parts of the book for the White House.
"The president was a bit surprised by some of the criticism in the book," she said. "Remember in late 2000, we were headed into a recession and tax cuts were the prescribed remedy. And that has borne out to be one of the best decisions we made in order to keep the economy growing like it is."
Greenspan gave a major boost to Bush's tax-cut plan in testimony before Congress in 2001, arguing then that a tax cut could help the economy deal with sagging growth. A recession that began in March 2001 ended that November. In his book, he says that testimony had been a mistake.
Perino also disputed Greenspan's line about the Iraq war, in which he said "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
Perino said Greenspan has since "acknowledged that oil was not the president's motive for our engagement in Iraq."
Despite disputing his conclusions, the White House went out of its way to praise Greenspan, who ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years, under four presidents, until early 2006.
"The president has great respect for former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan," she said. "They served together for many years. He was excellent at his job."
Greenspan accused Bush of not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits, saying he and Congress' former GOP leaders abandoned the party's conservative principles favoring small government.
"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan wrote in "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," being released Monday.
White House press secretary Dana Perino defended Bush's fiscal policies, and said that veto threats from the president were enough to keep spending from spiraling too high. Under Bush, government spending for the fight against terrorism increased, and Perino said the Bush administration doesn't apologize for acting on behalf of "the safety and security of the American people."
At the same time, government revenues declined because of a string of tax cuts, which Greenspan also criticizes in his book.
Large projected surpluses were the basis for Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut approved in the summer of 2001. Those surpluses never materialized, and have since turned into record deficits, so Greenspan wrote that the tax-cut goal was "no longer entirely appropriate."
Perino brought this up as one of the more perplexing parts of the book for the White House.
"The president was a bit surprised by some of the criticism in the book," she said. "Remember in late 2000, we were headed into a recession and tax cuts were the prescribed remedy. And that has borne out to be one of the best decisions we made in order to keep the economy growing like it is."
Greenspan gave a major boost to Bush's tax-cut plan in testimony before Congress in 2001, arguing then that a tax cut could help the economy deal with sagging growth. A recession that began in March 2001 ended that November. In his book, he says that testimony had been a mistake.
Perino also disputed Greenspan's line about the Iraq war, in which he said "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
Perino said Greenspan has since "acknowledged that oil was not the president's motive for our engagement in Iraq."
Despite disputing his conclusions, the White House went out of its way to praise Greenspan, who ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years, under four presidents, until early 2006.
"The president has great respect for former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan," she said. "They served together for many years. He was excellent at his job."
