In a recent editorial, the World Socialists Web Site predicts a deepening U.S. fiscal crisis ? which is nothing particularly new.
It is a kick, however, to see them grouse so loudly about Alan Greenspan’s admiration for Ayn Rand’s ideas:
As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan has to at least give the impression of political neutrality, claiming to base himself on the findings of economic analysis. But, as his history shows, he is flesh of one with some of the most aggressive defenders of the ?free market? and private property and wealth within the American ruling class.
These views were clearly set out in an article published in 1966 defending the gold standard as the real basis of all finance, and subsequently reprinted in the book Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal by extreme right-wing philosopher Ayn Rand. According to Greenspan, ?chronic deficit spending? was the hallmark of the welfare state, while the welfare state itself was ?nothing more than a mechanism by which governments confiscate the wealth of the productive members of society to support a wide variety of welfare schemes.?
Asked in 1993 if he still agreed with the conclusions of his article, Greenspan replied: ?Absolutely.? That basic agreement seems to have been underlined once again by his insistence that the answer to the growing fiscal crisis in the US is to make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while slashing domestic government spending.
Keep reading, if you’re not scared of scare quotes.