Dr. Caudle
That was the first thing I heard in the first class I had in my first year of college.
I was shocked and did not believe her.
Of course we learn from history!
Well, apparently not! Why do we keep doing the same stuff over and over and expect different results?
(Einstein called that the definition of insanity, but I digress)
The cartoon above appeared in one of my college economics textbooks. It was first published in the Chicago Tribune, April 1936, the depth of the Great Depression.
I DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT IN COLLEGE!
I do now.
Notice Leon Trotsky in the lower left corner. If you don't know who he is, look him up! Essentially he was Lenin's economic adviser.
Look at his sign! Sound familiar?
Are we repeating history?
Let's see, how did the Great Depression start? With a president named Hoover. As the economy began a slide into a recession, what did he propose? THE HOOVER NEW DEAL.
Oh, you thought Roosevelt started the New Deal? Sorry. How did the Hoover New Deal work? It began with the banks - with serious banking rules and gubment oversight changes, but also making it easier to loan money! Federal bank bail outs. Bailing out states. Public works projects (we hear that as "infrastructure improvement and shovel-ready jobs"). Reforming bankruptcy laws. Increasing corporate taxes and tariffs. Increased gubment involvement in housing. Ruining competition in favor of gubment control of and involvement in business. Tax cuts that weren't tax cuts. The creation of a multiplicity gubment agencies and departments. The Fed becoming more important in banking and lending. A HUGE tax increase! Gubment expenditures out the roof!
SOUND FAMILIAR?
What did Roosevelt do? He actually only started a couple of programs to add to Hoover's. BUT ROOSEVELT THOUGHT WE HAD NOT DONE ENOUGH! SO HE DID NOT JUST DOUBLE DOWN ON IT ALL, HE QUADRUPLED DOWN!
SOUND FAMILIAR?
What was the result? A basic recession was turned into a 15 year depression!! Some excellent studies have come out about this. My favorite is by two UCLA econ profs who lay it out pretty clearly using Econ 101 stuff. But, who's listening?
So, a "president" gets back from a Martha's Vineyard vacation to present a "jobs bill." That's in September 2010.
So, a "president" gets back from a Martha's Vineyard vacation to present a "jobs bill." That's in September 2011.
Am I in a freaking dream? Is history repeating itself?
YES! WHAT DOES HE PROPOSE? THE SAME STUFF HE PROPOSED LAST TIME, AND HAS PROPOSED AND PASSED IN THE LAST THREE YEARS! WE ARE AT DEPRESSION LEVELS IN UNEMPLOYMENT (don't believe the 9.1%, that's contrived, statistical poop - it is closer to 20%), HOUSING FORECLOSURE RATES, HOUSING OWNERSHIP RATES, STRUCTURAL DESTRUCTION OF PRODUCTION AND JOBS, HISTORICAL NUMBERS LIVING BELOW THE POVERTY LEVEL, A HISTORICAL LACK OF CONFIDENCE - I COULD GO DOWN THE LIST!!
It's simple. If you want to improve an economy, create jobs, lower inflation, improve housing, create manufacturing, raise confidence - you name it - if you want to do those things you MUST CREATE WEALTH. What employs people? WEALTH. Wealth also improves the economy, lowers inflation, improves housing, raises confidence - whatever!
Can the gubment create wealth? NO. Can it get out of the way and allow a free-market environment to do what it does best? YES. What do free markets do best? Create wealth.
Will this group? NO. That is not a part of their template! So watch the media twist and turn and try, try, try to make things look rosy and how great and strong and visionary this "president" appears. But in the end, nothing will change. The "president" will continue to blame something or someone else. (No leader blames something else)
And history will continue to repeat itself.
"This year in world history class, we will learn from history that we learn nothing from history."
Insanity on parade.
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