The political debate concerning the economy includes the usual idea from the privilege elite that wealthy people need Bush’s tax cuts to be extended, that the unemployed will stay unemployed unless the dole is cut, and that the market will save us all. Those ideas are a load of crap simply based on history and as philosopher George Santayana once wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
A simple look at how Herbert Hoover dealt with the start of the Great Depression shows us the truth:
Never say that Ryan or Hoover didn’t want to end the economic crises they lived through. But they both believed that government should have balanced budgets with low taxes above all else, and that the people needed “tough love” or they would decline into indolence. They thought that businesses always knew best and they would voluntarily “do the right thing” (although I would argue that Ryan actually believes they cannot possibly do the wrong thing.) Hoover scrambled after it was too late to put some more rational policies in place, but not in time to halt the Great Depression of his own political ignominy.
The difference is that Hoover didn’t know any better and didn’t have the lesson of the Great Depression to fall back on and Ryan does. He apparently missed class that day (or made it up by reading Amity Schlaes puerile garbage for extra credit.) And anyone who knows better can do nothing but scream at the TV — “he’s actually trying to put us into another Great Depression” — when they hear him say these things, as I just did.
In conclusion – been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Thanks Herbert Hoover!
