"We're heading towards a slowdown," Greenspan said in an interview on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" program. "Whether that actually leads to a recession is dependent on things we can't forecast at this moment."

 

He put the odds of a recession at less than 50/50 but added, "it's too soon to call this one way or the other, frankly."

 

Greenspan has been giving numerous interviews to promote his new book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."

 

He said he expects home prices to drop "significantly more," curtailing U.S. households' net housing wealth. He repeated that he doesn't accept blame for the U.S. housing bubble that is now deflating.

 

The former Fed chief also said the Medicare system appears to be in serious trouble but that Social Security is in better shape.  "We are not able to actually deliver on the Medicare we are promising and I think that is marginally unethical to immoral," Greenspan said. "If we don't act we are going to be in very serious trouble," he said.

 

Greenspan didn't comment on the Fed's decision to cut interest rates on Sept. 18. The central bank's policy-making committee cut rates by a half percentage point to 4.75%, citing turmoil in the financial markets as a threat to economic growth.  Stocks are expected to continue rising next week, lifted by sustained optimism over the hefty cut in interest rates delivered by the Fed this past week, analysts say.