Greenspan's Advice

"Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that Congress should make President Bush's tax cuts permanent and cover the $1 trillion price by trimming future benefits in Social Security and other entitlement programs." So begins a dispatch yesterday from the Associated Press from Washington. It's terrific to see Mr. Greenspan lending his much-vaunted credibility to President Bush's campaign to make the president's tax cuts permanent. We think a partial privatization of Social Security would help trim federal expenditures on the program without cutting benefits for retiring workers, and we're skeptical of Mr. Greenspan's support for a framework of caps on spending linked to the size of the budget deficit. But on the overall point, Mr. Greenspan's support for the tax cuts places the Federal Reserve Chairman — who enjoys the confidence of Wall Street and who served under President Clinton, as well — firmly in the pro-growth, Republican camp. It'll be a point for Mr. Bush to mention as he debates the tax-raising Democrats in the presidential campaign ahead.