589 Quotes by Alan Greenspan

I have long argued that paying down the national debt is beneficial for the economy: it keeps interest rates lower than they otherwise would be and frees savings to finance increases in the capital stock, thereby boosting productivity and real incomes.

The shock of September 11, by markedly raising the degree of uncertainty about the future, has the potential to result, for a time, in pronounced disengagement from future commitments,

Looking ahead, the consensus expectation for a pickup in economic activity is not unreasonable, though the timing and extent of that improvement continue to be uncertain,

Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.

Investing a portion of the Social Security trust fund assets in equities as the administration and others have proposed would arguably put at risk the efficiency of our capital markets and, thus, our economy,

Let me say this anyway on the record: We do not and have not been targeting stock prices for the purposes of endeavoring to stabilize this economy, ... We react if and when stock market price changes impact on the economy. We respond to the economy.

When trust is lost, a nation's ability to transact business is palpably undermined.

I came to a stark realization: chronic surpluses could be almost as destabilizing as chronic deficits.

The system worked. Moreover, following September 11, 2001, we found that the Y2K preparations and fixes had far-greater reach than we had realized,