# Greenspan: Country can't afford McCain tax cuts **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 13, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenspan-country-cant-afford-mccain-tax-cuts/463494 "2008-09-13T22:48:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenspan-country-cant-afford-mccain-tax-cuts/463494/1 "2008-09-13T22:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Alan Greenspan: “Unless we cut spending, no,” the former Federal Reserve chairman said Friday when asked about McCain’s proposed tax cuts, pegged in some estimates at $3.3 trillion. “I’m not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money,” Greenspan said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. “I always have tied tax cuts to spending.” From the [AP](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080913/ap_on_el_pr/mccain). The linked story indicates that McCain has pledged to end pork-barrel spending, “unnecessary” government programs, and overhauling Social Security and Medicare. Isn’t this extremely wishful thinking, though? How is a president, regardless of party, going to completely control what bills Congress passes - especially if they have the 2/3 majority needed to override a veto? What exactly is an “unnecessary” government program and how is he going to eliminate enough programs to make a substantive difference (i.e. at least a few hundred million dollars if not billions)? How is he going to overhaul Social Security and Medicare enough so that he simultaneously saves the government billions while also not curtailing these programs so that they aren’t reduced to uselessness or millions aren’t booted out?