Posted on 05/01/2020 10:23:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
As of April 30, the coronavirus pandemic has killed 61,500 Americans in two months and induced the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
And if history is our guide, the economic crisis, which has produced 30 million unemployed Americans in six weeks, may prove more enduring, ruinous and historic than the still-rising and tragic death toll.
The Spanish flu of 1918-1919, the deadliest pandemic in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, a third of the planet's population, and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including 675,000 Americans.
"Adjusting for the difference in the size of the American population then and now," writes Chronicles columnist Roger McGrath, "that number will be equivalent to two million deaths today."
Yet, the Spanish flu did not shut America down.
As the Spanish flu hit and spread in 1918, the U.S. raised, trained and equipped an army of 4 million men, sent 2 million soldiers to France, broke Gen. Erich Ludendorff's army, and turned the tide in favor of the Allies.
By December 1918, Doughboys were arriving in New York harbor -- having sailed home from Europe's battlefields on flu-infested transports.
As the scourge continued to take its toll, Woodrow Wilson sailed to Europe, participated for months in the Paris Peace Conference, returned, went on a national train tour to sell his Paris treaty and League of Nations, and suffered a stroke.
In September 1919, Gen. Pershing led his victorious troops in victory parades in New York City and Washington. This writer's father, a teenager then, was in the D.C. crowd.
In the history books of the 1950s, World War I, Wilson and the Senate battle over the treaty he brought home and U.S. membership in the League of Nations loomed far larger than the Spanish flu that had killed as many U.S. soldiers as the Kaiser's armies.
But the Great Depression, to which our current crash is now being compared, did not last for just a year like the Spanish flu. The Depression lasted from the stock market crash in October 1929 to the eve of World War II.
Economically, it was devastating. Unemployment during the 1930s never fell below 14%. In 1937, it was back up to 17%.
At the bottom of the Depression, the stock market had lost 90% of its value, and the GDP had fallen 50%. Not until the end of FDR's second term, in 1940, when the U.S. began to gear up for the war, did America really begin to pull out of it.
FDR's New Deal, however, while it did not cure the Depression, was a historic political triumph for both the president and his party.
From 1930 through 1946, Democrats controlled both houses of the Congress every year, elected and reelected FDR four times and gave him a 46-state landslide in 1936, losing only Maine and Vermont.
What this suggests is that the economic devastation we have brought upon ourselves to battle the pandemic may prove more lasting and historic in its impact than the terrible losses of human life to COVID-19.
Politically, the Depression worked for the Democratic Party like no other event in history. After the Crash of 1929 under Herbert Hoover, the GOP held the House and Senate for only four of the next 50 years.
From 1932 to 1968, the GOP lost the presidency in seven of nine elections. Only Dwight Eisenhower's two terms in the 1950s interrupted a 36-year reign of the Democratic Party in the White House.
Richard Nixon broke the Democratic dominance and took back the White House for the Republicans in 1968. But it would still take another dozen years before the GOP won control of either house of Congress.
President Trump predicts a V-shaped recovery, the greatest boom in U.S. history. But it is well to recall what happened to the GOP when it failed to deliver in the last Depression.
Just as the Civil War was the defining event of the 19th century, giving us 13 Republican presidents from Lincoln to Hoover and only two Democrats -- Grover Cleveland and Wilson -- how and when we emerge from this new Depression may tell us which party not only wins 2020 but also dominates the new era.
And as one sees the growing divisions along political lines, with conservatives and populists calling for the country to be opened up, and liberals and Democrats calling for continued sheltering in place, both seem to realize the stakes.
Democrats may proclaim that they are eager to see the pandemic come to a swift and early end and the economy to return quickly to the robust state it was in last February.
But the cold political interests of the Democratic Party today are what they were in Hoover's time, to pray that the president fails, and fails badly, so that they inherit the estate.
“No because of the nature what has happened there will be no election.
That would be bad because then it would be President Pelosi on Jan 20, 2021”
Nonsense.
Presidential elections are not required by the Constitution - they aren’t even mentioned.
As long as any electors are appointed by any States, a President will be chosen by the regular, Constitutional process - and it won’t be Nancy Pelosi.
In fact, since the anti-American forces have gotten so good at cheating - perhaps we should stop the farce of “Presidential elections” for a few decades and let the States choose the President - as they are supposed to do.
“and am a very well respected activist in my community.”
For which side Darthy?
I have a normal life. What do you do with yourself? Tell me what type of education and career you have?
The sooner we open up, the sooner he can fix it again.
Actually none of your business. You have made up your mind about me based on your idea of how you need me to be in order to justify your crazed attack on me.
I’m not surprised. It is “normal” behavior for those afflicted as you are.
My attack on you is not crazed. The type of person you are is verifiable through other Freepers you know and associate with who I know. Your comment is not surprising because what I have heard so far is that you are a colossal loser.
Nope. He’ll be elected in a landslide and all those dictator Dem. governors will be voted out.
Truly extraordinary how much time and effort you put into attempting to convince everyone (including yourself I suspect) how wonderful you are.
Just another sign I am right about you.
Perhaps a tweak in your meds is all that is necessary. Call your doc, get help, you will feel better.
Congressional terms expire Jan 3, if there is no election (there will be an election) there is no Congressional election either so there would be no House and a Senate with a bunch of gubernatorial appointees taking the place of the third up for reelection. The Pres Pro Tem of the Senate would be in line to be Acting President.
No jerkoff too many have had it with your childish antics and I’m taking you to the woodshed because you richly deserve it. The fact that you keep coming back like you are in this thread only proves the truth about what I am saying about you and you know it. Your butt-hurt is extreme and your facing saving measures are obvious!! You will never get the better of me.
It will never happen
I would not be too sure of that not with what those of us in the grapevine are hearing and seeing.
“Your butt-hurt is extreme and your facing saving measures are obvious!! You will never get the better of me.”
Classic projection. It is a fact that he/she who loses their temper has lost the debate/argument.
You’ve lost Darthy.
Sorry this is no projection of my part just a statement of facts. I have not lost my temper and you are just going to have to recognize the fact that I fight to the finish. It is not out of anger but a warrior’s discipline yo continue the conflict until the opponent is broken beyond repair. It is the US military way. By you just posting what you did is your own projection. One of your Freeper buddies just got off the phone with me and who is watching this exchange is laughing at you. You will never get one up no matter how hard you try!
“I have not lost my temper”
And you are not only delusional you are in denial.
Seriously, get help.
No I am not delusional you are. And you are in denial because you are being exposed as a loser who really doesn’t know much of anything. You have never gotten into a conflict with a miltary person. We don’t turn off the attack until the opponent is beaten.
You are the one who needs to get help. I would not be surprised if you are into recreational drug use of some kind. I will find out for sure from my contacts on here who know you.
Listen guy, I gotta feed my Sharks so play time is over.
On military service, ask my “friends” here on FR and maybe they’ll clue you in on my contribution.
My guess you were in Food Services.
See ya and remember to get the meds checked.
Anyone who is believing Biden’s rantings has been drinking at home alone for too long & needs supervision.
I bet you are the one is into Food Services. You may have been in the military but not made much of it post career. Lots of people don’t. I did make the most of my experiences and work high tech at the Pentagon level. Worked on things most people dream of. I am not on meds and don’t need them. No one will believe your narrative!
The unemployment rate in late October could be 15-20%.That’s not likely to bode well for the GOP.
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