VIDEO - Greenspan On The U.S. Downgrade: 'The U.S. Can Pay Any Debt Because We Can Always Print More Money'

Video - Alan Greenspan on Meet The Press - Aug. 7, 2011

Q - "Are U.S. treasury bonds still safe to invest in?"

Alan Greenspan - "Very much so.  This is not an issue of credit rating, the United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that.  So, there is zero probability of default."

"What I think the S&P thing did was to hit a nerve that there's something basically bad going on, and it's hit the self-esteem of the United States, the psyche."

"The United States was actually doing relatively well, sluggish but going forward until Italy ran into trouble.  That destabilized the European system, and the crisis re-emerged. Europe is very critical to the United States in the sense not only do we have a fourth of our experts there, but more importantly, significant proportion of the foreign affiliate profits, in fact half of U.S. corporations, are in Europe."

"When Italy showed signs of significant weakness in selling its bonds—the yield is now over 6 percent, which is an unsustainable level—it created a massive problem within Europe because Italy is a very large country, cannot be easily bailed out and, indeed, cannot be bailed out."

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Greenspan says despite the fact that the president ignored the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Commission's report on how to fix the debt problem, it will be the template to the eventual solution.

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Greenspan - "We can always print more money."

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Flashback - Greenspan admits the Federal Reserve is above the law.

From PBS a few years ago.

Comments

[DailyBail]

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were trading sharply lower in Asian trading hours on Monday after rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on U.S. debt to AA+ from AAA late Friday. In addition, Europe is continuing to struggle to contain its sovereign debt woes and said over the weekend it will actively implement its bond-buying program in an effort to calm markets. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 248 points at 11,156, Nasdaq 100 futures fell 42.25 points to 2,144.75 while S&P 500 futures dropped 25.90 points to 1,171.90. Oil futures fell $2.41 to $84.47 a barrel in Nymex electronic trading while investors sought the safety of gold, pushing futures in the precious metal up $35.40 at $1,687.30 an ounce.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-drop-in-asian-trading-2011-08-07

[john]

ECB decides to buy eurozone bonds to curb debt crisis

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/08/c_131034623.htm

[Dave]

This just from Yahoo News regarding a 2 A rating and what it means to you.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SP-Rating-Your-money-in-a-hmoney-388856032.html?x=0

[john]

@ Dave, this is collective punishment for their bad behavior.

[ain't bullshitt'n]

Print...the ONLY answer they will EVER know.....EPIC FAIL....AB

[DailyBail]

Crude Oil Tumbles in New York and London After S&P Downgrades U.S. Rating

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-07/oil-drops-2-8-in-new-york-after-s-p-downgrade-on-u-s-brent-future-falls.html

[DailyBail]

Trichet Draws ECB ‘Bazooka’ to Stem Contagion

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-07/trichet-draws-ecb-bazooka-to-stem-contagion.html

[DailyBail]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hong-kong-shanghai-shares-drop-2011-08-07

SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index HK:HSI -4.13% fell 3.9%, while the Shanghai Composite index CN:000001 -3.68% lost 4.8% on Monday. Chinese shares were underperforming the rest of the Asian region, with banks particularly hard-hit in Hong Kong, as HSBC Holdings PLC UK:HSBA -3.70% HBC -1.31% HK:5 -3.71% shares fell 3.6% and Bank of China Ltd. HK:3988 -4.81% BACHY +0.19% shares dropped 4.5%. Investor nervousness about the health of the global economy has been stoked recently by Europe's ongoing sovereign debt woes, while a downgrade of U.S. debt highlighted worries about U.S. prospects.

[DailyBail]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Group of Seven leading economies said Sunday that it was ready to respond as needed to market tensions over concerns the U.S. and Europe can’t handle the debt burdens they took on to ease the global financial crisis.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/g-7-seeks-to-calm-markets-debt-jitters-2011-08-07

[DailyBail]

Democratic politics in a nutshell
BY GLENN GREENWALD

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/democratic_party/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2011/07/31/democrats

[S. Gompers]

No the United States cannot print money whenever it wants, The Federal Reserve does and then loans it to the United States at terms of usuary. The United States just pays for the ink, paper, and operating costs to provide this service for the FED to loan to our hearts abandon...

[LiberatedCitizen]

Here's democratic policies in a nutshell

Third Way Document Proves Democratic Party Supports Institutionalized Looting by Banks

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/third-way-document-proves-democratic-party-supports-institutionalized-looting-by-banks.html

The Bankster Plan to Hijack the Next Budget Deal

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/08/bankster-plan-to-hijack-next-budget.html

Hyperinflation anyone?

[LiberatedCitizen]

$1 Billion bet in July of US downgrade brings questions of insider information

http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/1-billion-bet-july-of-us-downgrade-brings-questions-of-insider-information#ixzz1URdhhukS

[jaime]

I can't believe we are still listening to Alan Greenspan. He should never have been appointed. But he was. And what did we get? A compromised, hypocritical, fanatically ideological, failed thinker. His influence in putting us in the situation we are now facing is enormous.

[Howard T. Lewis III]

Inflate to the moon and Greenspan would not miss a meal.

[tom dee]

I am not sure why anyone would say it was shocking that the Federal Reserve bank would just print money to pay the naitonal debt. It appears to be the policy on day one of the federal reserve just prior to WWI and only one year since the existence of the federal reserve has the purchase power of the dollar ever increased. The Federal Reserve is and always has been a bad idea. It is and always been interested in the profit of the bankers. It has no interest in the United States. It should be eliminated and the debt of the federal reserve should be forced on the owner banks. The only think to will happen is a few of the mega banks will disappear which as a big plus.