|
|
| General
: Great Depression Holds Lessons, But What Are They? |
|
 |
|
Reply
| | From:  tc101 (Original Message) | Sent: 11/12/2008 12:37 AM |
Great Depression Holds Lessons, but What Are They?
I am concerned that we are following the lead of 1930s failures into another depression. In response to a financial crisis, President Herbert Hoover raised taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals and instituted protectionist tariffs, thereby escalating the crisis into a depression. Franklin Roosevelt followed with the New Deal which destroyed business incentives and extended the Depression for over 10 years. That Depression led directly to World War II which was the greatest social, environmental and economic crisis the world has ever seen. President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on many of these same measures.
Capitalism has served America incredibly well for over 200 years. The current crisis resulted primarily from anticapitalists forcing banks and mortgage companies to lend money to people with little or no means to pay it back. That is not capitalism. Now, many say capitalist principles have failed. No way! It was the tinkering, with blatant disregard for capitalist principles, that failed and we should get back to what works: Reduce taxes on businesses and expand individual tax cuts. This will energize our economy and create a flood of tax revenue which would allow America to truly address the needs of the poor here and overseas. So what if it allows rich people to keep their money. Do we want to punish them so much that we are willing to sacrifice our country and make everyone poor?
Walter S. Creasy, Ph.D.
Bridgewater, N.J.
Andrew Wilson is right: The New Deal did not end the Great Depression ("Five Myths About the Great Depression," op-ed, Nov. 4). No less an authority than FDR's Treasury secretary and close friend, Henry Morgenthau, conceded this fact to Congressional Democrats in May 1939: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong . . . somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises . . . I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . And an enormous debt to boot!" Indeed, FDR's market-suffocating policies are almost surely what put the "Great" in Great Depression.
Laura S. Clancy
Arlington, Va.
|
|
 First
Previous
No Replies
Next
Last
|
|
|
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
