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Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Close your eyes in Washington these days and you can almost hear the echoes of 1932. Eighty years ago, just like today, a fiscal crisis almost totally dominated the nation’s capital. Then, as now, fiscal conservatives demanded immediate action to fix a federal budget awash in red ink. And then, as now, average Americans wondered why all the fuss about deficits. The Depression was in its third year, and millions had no jobs. Why were politicians haggling about balancing the budget? Is history simply repeating? If so, bring that repeat on, with the same final result. That 1932 fiscal crisis ...
Sam Pizzigati adapted this piece from his new book, “The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970.”
Great history lesson! So very relevant for what is occurring today in our current government. There is a saying that if we don't learn from the lessons/mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat those same problems. Sounds like our country is at that place now.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and most of his economic advisors at the time, John Maynard Keynes was the economic guru they followed. Just like today with President Obama and his economic team. The problem is and was keynesian economics didn't work then to bring the US out of the duldrums of the depression only World War 2 did. And like recently, keynesian economics hasn't worked to bring Europe and the USA out of the anemic economic growth pattern of recent years. Like Roosevelt, President Obama has no formal education in economics. He doesn't know it, can't and/or refuses to learn and understand it.
CarmineD
Probably the best comparison of today with 1932 is on the global scale. Like the 30's and 40's the world is experiencing a complete collapse of the world order. Then it was Germany and Russia who were the cuprits. Today it is Iran, Syria, North Korea, and China who are defying the world order with no consequences from the world leaders and nations. If the letter writer used this as a comparison, he would be spot on. We got World War 2 then. What will we get now?
CarmineD