Creeping trade protectionism and bloated budget deficits pose a risk to the United States’ long-term economic vitality, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Friday.
Maintaining economic flexibility is especially important, Greenspan said, to deal with what he called some of America’s current economic imbalances: the swollen current account trade deficit, which surged to a record $668 billion last year, and the housing boom. The Fed chief made the remarks at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
