[kiwiexpat]

It's interesting how the thoughts of conservatives and marxists loop around and eventually meet one another. Of course Marx held that the capitalism is unsustainable. But, in terms of economics, today we know how to manage the economy much better than we did in the twenties and thirties. What first sunk the economy in the twenties was rank speculation, the worst excesses of which were not tempered by state intervention. Then the Federal Reserve really screwed things up in its response to the share market crash by reducing the money supply instead of expanding it. And of course Hoover refused to increase government spending to avoid a deficit. I think that we now know enough to avoid making those mistakes today. It seems to me that the Roosevelt Administration made some necessary economic reforms(stock trading controls, federal banking insurance, deficit spending, social security spending, among other things) that made the economy more stable, recessions shorter and less severe, and addressed the worst excesses of poverty in the country. My understanding is that the WPA and CCC benefits at least over 100,000 (I forgotten the precise figure). Roosevelt worried about social security and welfarism reducing the work ethnic, and if his thinking of the time is anything to go by, would have disapproved of the Great Society legislation. Thus I think that its unfair to blame the worst excesses of the welfare state on him. Although, after the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, criticizing people on welfare is a moot point. Are there any American Presidents or leaders that you do admire?