Analysts Buck Greenspan, Call For 'Good Growth'

J. Scott Applewhite / AP Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan cautioned that the U.S. economy could succumb to a recession this year. But CNBC's Steve Liesman says many analysts are breaking with the ex-Fed chairman -- and siding with his successor, Ben Bernanke, who sees inflation as the real threat.

Indeed, Carl Tannenbaum, president of the National Association for Business Economics, said that "the forecasters" are predicting "good growth" this year -- and "even stronger" results for 2008. Speaking on "Morning Call," he said that the closely-watched housing market will prove a "diminishing drag on GDP growth." The leading driver will be consumer spending -- and Tannenbaum says his group has upped its consumer-spending view in light of "solid" employment projections. The NABE chief summed it up this way: "The Fed did its job," steering a "soft landing" and maintaining "stable rates."

Liesman buttressed that view by pointing to Greenspan's concession that "while...it is possible we can get a recession in the latter months of 2007, most forecasters are not making that judgment."