Past & Present: Alexander Hamilton and the Start of the National Debt[This Day in History]

US News ^ | 18 Sep 2008 | John Steele Gordon

[BGHater]

18 September

A interesting day in our history.

[BGHater]

Interesting day in history ping.

[BGHater]

Lol. Graphs...

[Moonman62]

Hamilton's program was an extraordinary success. Within a few years, United States bonds were selling above par in European markets because they were regarded as so safe. Brisk trading in government bonds brought capital markets into existence in this country for the first time, and both the New York and Philadelphia stock markets began in 1792.

Hamilton was right.

[rdb3]

Hamilton was right.

Indeed.

[Gondring]

Ah, good ol’ Alexander Hamilton...Patron Saint of FR and the National Debt...

[Moonman62]

So it was not surprising that the Treasury was the largest department of the new government, with 39 employees versus just five for the State Department under Thomas Jefferson.

Sarah Palin has more experience than that.

[Gondring]

Hamilton was right.

Yes...he would be quite appalled with the current use of the debt.

[Gondring]

The Socialists sure love it when we use the GDP number.

Buy a cheap plastic trinket from China and upload it at an American port, truck it halfway across the country, and sell it at Wal-Mart, and you’ve boosted our GDP! WOO-HOO! Consumption gets counted as “prosperity.”

[BGHater]

Lol. Jefferson only got the La Purchase with 5 people. Not bad.

[thefactor]

hamilton/washington ping

[divine_moment_of_facts]

Hamilton saw the debt as a powerful means of fighting wars, building infrastructure, and getting through economic bad times. For the last 30 years and more, however, the national debt has been increasingly used so that no one in Washington ever has to say no to anyone.

This bears repeating.

[Tublecane]

I think that should be “Cold War Dénouement,” not “climax.” I’d put the climax back in 1962.

[Tublecane]

I see Hamilton’s point in convincing the rich into being on the side of the Federal Government (that is, if you care about the survival of the Federal Government). But he was a merchantilist/Keynesian, and he was wrong.

Death to the Central Bank!

[divine_moment_of_facts]

It seems we are in the position where we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. There is no real way out..

[Tublecane]

I’d like to hear why you think we’re damned.

In my opinion, the tragic dilemma is that bringing about the deflation necessary to right our economy would probably cause the state to react with as yet unheard of socialism. If only we could destroy the Federal Reserve and return to the gold standard, I’m convinced we’d be alright. So much for hope.

[Publius]

Ping. Good essay. Better than my own.

[Toddsterpatriot]

If only we could destroy the Federal Reserve and return to the gold standard, I’m convinced we’d be alright.

LOL!

[Tublecane]

“LOL!”

Laugh all you want, but the boom/bust cycle is caused by credit expansion, and the money supply cannot be arbitrarily expanded by the state if money is gold. Fact is, even with the Fed, inflation, and pervasive government intervention, the economy is still growing (by ever so little a margin). Think of how well we’d be doing without the “clusters of error” of the bubble markets.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

The Feds continue to throw good money after bad.. but I can understand how they cannot let the whole banking system collapse. Who really knows what’s best? Wouldn’t returning to the Gold standard also have it’s own myriad of difficulties.

If only everyone could stay on the same page and not withdrawal all their investments in a panic!