I Told You So?

Posted Wednesday, May 13, 2009 12:00 PM by Joe Napalm

You know, it really pains me to see Ameica going the way of large debt and moving control from states and individuals to the federal government. It was never intended to be that way, but it's what the people want and it's what they're getting -- soft tyranny.

I'm reading a magnificent book by radio star Mark Levin titled Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. In one chapter he defends free markets with their ability to self-adjust in times of recession or depression. And he shows evidence that during President Franklin Roosevelt's administration most Americans lost faith in free markets because his New Deal artificially propped up prices and salaries which extended the Great Depression by as much as seven years. If left alone, some financial analysts have deduced that the lower prices and lower salaries would have caused a self-adjustment that would have remedied the Depression in three years.

So far the most eye-opening statement in the chapter is a quote from a diary entry by Roosevelt's Treasury Secretary. And in light of the never-before-seen spending and printing of money that is currently taking place under the Obama administration (and, admittedly, some of it began under Pres. Bush), I feel it necessary by due diligence to share it with you guys.

In May 1939, when the country was experiencing unprecedented unemployment and when the president declared that "one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished," Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau wrote in his diary, “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 now if I am wrong somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosper. 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 enormous debt to boot.”

The unemployment rate did not reach pre-Depression rates until 1941 -- the start of World War II.

Comments

# re: I Told You So?

Thursday, May 14, 2009 8:57 PM by leon

But the people have their hands in the public purse and will not take it out until it is empty and provides no more.  Selfishness, greed, and dishonesty work at the level of the individual and the nation.

# re: I Told You So?

Friday, May 15, 2009 1:16 PM by :o)}

Yes, and there are still people who worship the ground on which FDR walked.  Today, we have people doing the same with the Obamessiah . . . he promises a chicken in every pot, but he doesn't tell people that the more they get the more they will have to pay for it eventually.  The government does not make money (the printing of useless paper not withstanding); they simply spend the tax money of those who do make it.  The lessons learned by one generation are soon forgotten by two generations later!

:o)}

# re: I Told You So?

Friday, May 15, 2009 4:31 PM by Bahnsen8

Soft tyrannies become hard tyrannies unless soft men become hard men, refusing to give way one more inch. Go read Patrick Henry if you want to know the only way out of this mess. Otherwise, move to New Zealand.