Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday the U.S. economic expansion is “well under way,” painting a rosier picture than he did just a week ago and essentially declaring the recession over.
The Fed chief told the Senate Banking Committee, in a rare and unexpected revision of his formal semiannual testimony to the House of Representatives Financial Services panel Feb. 27, that the upbeat economic news of the past few days is reason for encouragement.
But he retained a note of caution, telling lawmakers that the recovery would “almost certainly” not log the growth rates of rebounds from past recessions, which he said were an average of about 7 percent.
He also said business spending was a cause for concern.