Taking Sides: Three cheers for Greenspan for raising tough issues.(Opinion)

Investment News, March, 2004

Suddenly, Alan Greenspan has become the skunk at the election-year party. Three cheers for him - he had the courage to tell Congress an unpleasant truth: Entitlements must be cut. Members of Congress, and presidential candidates, have reacted with predictable outrage. They hate having anyone point out to them - especially in an election year - that they have failed, for at least a decade, to address a looming problem.

Little of what Mr. Greenspan told Congress last week was new. Experts have been warning for many years that the Social Security system will soon fall into deficit and that the Medicare system will run into financial difficulties even sooner, yet Congress has taken no action. The experts have also suggested ways to address the...

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