It's no secret that staunch conservatives consider the New Deal to be a catastrophe and have been longing to get back to the McKinley era ever since.

In bold print on the first page of the long-term conservative playbook is a tactic called "Starving The Beast". It goes like this:

• lower taxes (especially for your friends) to the point where a fiscal train wreck finally ensues
• declare that "raising" taxes (returning them to a prior level) would destroy the economy, and that the only solution is to gut Social Security and other unwanted New Deal programs

I just can't believe that Alan "supposed to be above politics" Greenspan is apparently on board. According to Reuters:

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday said Congress should weigh trimming future Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age and offering less generous adjustments to future payments. [...]

Urging swift action on a spiraling budget deficit -- forecast to hit a record $521 billion this year -- Greenspan told the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee that spending restraint was the best way to meet future commitments rather than raising taxes and endangering the economy.

Et tu, Alan?

UPDATE: It looks like Paul Krugman feels my pain.