June 14, 2011

Roosevelt Redux: How Obama is Creating a Great Depression of His Own

By Robert R. Barker
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is to liberals as Ronald Reagan is to conservatives, a greatly revered hero of their cause.  Barack Obama is following in FDR's shoes.  Roosevelt was more destructive to the economy in his own time than Obama has been in his... thus far.   Roosevelt responded to the recession he inherited with a combination of massive spending on new government programs and sweeping controls over private industry, (sound familiar?).  His thinking was that government spending would get people back to work, and controls over private industry would end deflation.  Rules and regulations over private industry were put in place designed, incredibly, to increase the prices of goods.  The President and his advisors thought deflation was a cause of the recession.  But of course it wasn't a cause; it was a result. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were formed.  The WPA was created to...(Read Full Article)