Posted on 11/23/2008 4:24:21 AM PST by reaganaut1
[T]he truth [about the Great Depression] is that Roosevelt changed course from year to year, trying a mix of policies, some good and some bad.
...
Roosevelt instituted a disastrous legacy of agricultural subsidies and sought to cartelize industry, backed by force of law. Neither policy helped the economy recover.
He also took steps to strengthen unions and to keep real wages high. This helped workers who had jobs, but made it much harder for the unemployed to get back to work. One result was unemployment rates that remained high throughout the New Deal period.
Today, President-elect Barack Obama faces pressures to make unionization easier, but such policies are likely to worsen the recession for many Americans.
...
The New Deal’s legacy of public works programs has given many people the impression that it was a time of expansionary fiscal policy, but that isn’t quite right. Government spending went up considerably, but taxes rose, too. Under President Herbert Hoover and continuing with Roosevelt, the federal government increased income taxes, excise taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income taxes, holding company taxes and “excess profits” taxes.
When all of these tax increases are taken into account, New Deal fiscal policy didn’t do much to promote recovery. Today, a tax cut for the middle class is a good idea — and the case for repealing the Bush tax cuts for higher-income earners is weaker than it may have seemed a year or two ago.
...
The good New Deal policies, like constructing a basic social safety net, made sense on their own terms and would have been desirable in the boom years of the 1920s as well. The bad policies made things worse. Today, that means we should [...] resist the temptation to “do something” for its own sake.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This would generate a wave of new jobs (and likely innovative new technologies)---unlike loaning it to GM or Chrysler, which would be just pouring money down a (union) rathole.
“You want to generate jobs??? Take a chunk of that $700 billion “bailout” (say $100 billion), and turn it over the the Small Business Administration as available financing for new small companies.”
I disagree. Will loan officers at the SBA lose their jobs if the loans are not repaid? No.
Think about this. Until 2006, when Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Congress, things were pretty darn good. After two years of the Democrat Congress blocking and raising a ruckus, Fannie and Freddie collapsed, taking everything with them. Carter had started the F&F type plans for giving mortgages to those who were bad risks. Clinton expanded on it, using the force of the Attorney General, Janet Reno, to enforce those types of loans - OR ELSE! - on banks and lending institutions. In 2006, McCain, Elizabeth Dole and other Republicans wanted to pass legislation that would have dealt with Fannie & Freddie, warning that a disaster was coming if they weren’t dealt with. Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Barack Obama and the rest of the Democrats pooh-poohed saying, “nothing to see here, move along”. Fannie & Freddie was a big old goose that had laid a golden egg in their laps, and Obama was well on his way to collecting a lot of golden eggs from F&F. . not to mention other Clinton cronies from yesteryear who collected MILLIONS upon MILLIONS from F&F.
The truth is that the Democrats in Congress were mad as wet hens that they were being denied their BIRTHRIGHT to RULE this country. They knew they had set the country up for a recession, maybe even a depression. They didn’t care what their selfish hissy fit caused as long as they got back into their rightful place IN POWER.
Oh, and to any DU’ers on this thread. Obama isn’t going to pay your mortgage and fill your gas tank like he led you to believe, and when he bankrupts the coal industry, we will all be lucky to be able to pay our electric bill and get a few groceries. (Remember when that happens that Governor Palin served on an energy-related board, governs an energy rich state, and is an EXPERT on the subject. She is NOT Tina Fey.)
Don't just do something, stand there! In the name of the Great Jehova, let's pray that 0bama takes this advice.
There is a good new book by Burton Folsom called “New Deal or Raw Deal?” Burt is a prof of history at Hillsdale, and this is as good a short, one-volume history of the problems of the ND as you’ll find. I recommend it over Amity Shlaes’ “Forgotten Man.” More to the point.
Oh, what could'a been - Delay's "permanent" Republican majority, ..., etc. was not as "good" as it was cracked-up to be.
Exit stage left - seeking not a "new, revised, improved" GOP as that is doomed and a waste of time. Same old, same old - the "wishful" thinking of the past.
Just a simple idea having a potentially near-term impact, for starters, the Non-Incumbent Party. Next election - any one, good or bad, on any ballot as an incumbent, is voted out. Ends: seniority, patronage, ties to "special interests", ..., etc.
A quick, easy, and Constitutional approach to term-limits.
I think they would do a better job than the ones at the banks currently getting the bailout. I have yet to hear about any of THOSE "loan managers" losing their jobs. The only difference is that in the case of the SBA, you would generate MANY more jobs.
As far as I’m concerned (AFAIC?), the news here is that this is in the New York Times. I hope: A) it is the print edition; B) it is not buried in the print edition.
The findings in the excerpt are very important. Hoover and Roosevelt raised taxes - the wrong thing to do. Roosevelt tried to keep prices up - the wrong thing to do.
Many people blame the UAW for the problems of the big three. There is a lot of truth in that argument. But why do the unions have so much power? I think the answer lies in government policies put in place by Roosevelt.
Answers for today. Keep taxes low, let prices fall. Rethink and reduce union power.
SBA has a history of corrupt “advisors” and “consultants” dsspite regulations against them and corruption within the agency. It has not been very good at choosing winning companies.
I agree entirely with your first paragraph. And here’s a point that should be repeated over and over:
“Think about this. Until 2006, when Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Congress, things were pretty darn good.”
What was the DOW when the Democrats took over the Congress? What is it today?
By 1938, our unemployment was at 25%, the same it was in 1932.
By that time the GOP regained seats in Congress, the Supreme Court knocked down the NRA as unconstitutional, a number of New Dealers were defeated and FDR turned his attention to foreign affairs.
it did work
gave the rats a lot of power
that is their only criteria. so the rest of us suffer, that is good so the dims can “save” us
I think I’ll try to look up what the DOW was when Nancy the Frivolous and crew took over Congress. A lot higher than it is now, to be sure.
That sounds good to me. It also sounds politically feasible too.
My preference would be to reduce the size of the bailout, say reducing it from $700B to $600B. But that would seem to be an admission of error. We must protect the illusion of the infallibility of government.
The Dow was 12,400 when Pelosi & Crew took over officially. Now, I think it’s working its way down to about half of that. It took them two years; but any notice by the MSM? Nope. . and no matter if it’s down to 200 within the next couple of years. They’ll be blaming “Bush” for it, and, most notably, when “The One” weakens the terrorist watch capabilities put in place by “Bush” and causes an attack to be successful even four years from now, it’ll be “Bush’s” fault. If “The One” is in for 8 years, any failure will still be “Bush’s fault”. Obama is an example of the ultimate affirmative action in action.
Belated thanks for the research!
The Republicans should have made an issue of the declining stock market throughout the Presidential campaign. And they should be talking about it from now to 2008, and then 2012. It makes for a good tagline also.
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