The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.
Alan GreenspanI am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.
Alan GreenspanCrony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.
Alan GreenspanI love to play tennis and golf, listen to music, watch baseball and root for the Redskins.
Alan GreenspanYou can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust.
Alan GreenspanSkilled shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. [Visa quotas] have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process we have created [a] privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at non-competitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of the income inequality.
Alan Greenspan