Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said on ABC’s This Week this morning that he expects the unemployment rate — which has already climbed to 9.8 percent — to top 10 percent before it starts trending downward.
“My own suspicion is that we’re gonna penetrate the 10 percent barrier and stay there for awhile before we start down,” Greenspan said.
In the meantime, Greenspan said that he thinks the U.S. should extend unemployment benefits and give tax credits to make sure the unemployed are able to keep their health insurance coverage.
“This is an extraordinary period,” Greenspan said. “And temporary actions must be taken.”
What Greenspan doesn’t support is another stimulus package.
“In trying to do too much, you can actually be counterproductive,” Greenspan said.
The former Fed chairman said there’s “considerable debate” in the economics world over “how effective the stimulus package is” and that “it’s far better to wait and see how this momentum that’s already begun to develop in this economy carries forward.”
