Capitalism

[VictorCharlie]

FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate / UCLA Newsroom

FDR's New Deal hurt millions of poor people : USD College Republicans

FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn't One to Follow - washingtonpost.com

I don't have an opinion on this really, but apparently not all historians believe the New Deal was the best or only solution.

Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no | McClatchy

Gateway Pundit: 200 Top Economists Say "Stimulus" Bill Won't Work

For Many Economists, Stimulus Falls Flat - CBS News

I didn't disagree with the stimulus bill in principle just the parts that seemed political but apparently not ALL economists thought it was the best idea. Lastly with a country in economic crisis what I did expect is an effort to dramatically curb our budget. I can agree to disagree on the parts of the stimulus package and omnibus that I philisophically oppose but my simple Soldier mind cannot fathom why we haven't slashed federal spending across the board.

[Kirkland Laing]

FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate / UCLA Newsroom

FDR's New Deal hurt millions of poor people : USD College Republicans

FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn't One to Follow - washingtonpost.com

I don't have an opinion on this really, but apparently not all historians believe the New Deal was the best or only solution.

Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no | McClatchy

Gateway Pundit: 200 Top Economists Say "Stimulus" Bill Won't Work

For Many Economists, Stimulus Falls Flat - CBS News

I didn't disagree with the stimulus bill in principle just the parts that seemed political but apparently not ALL economists thought it was the best idea. Lastly with a country in economic crisis what I did expect is an effort to dramatically curb our budget. I can agree to disagree on the parts of the stimulus package and omnibus that I philisophically oppose but my simple Soldier mind cannot fathom why we haven't slashed federal spending across the board.

FDR made several mistakes but overall the New Deal was a huge success. If you read the UCLA critique they're attacking FDR's incomes and pricing policies, something which was tried at the time but eventually ended by FDR as it wasn't working. You'cw got to remember at the time economics as a discipline was in its infancy, nothing like the depression had ever happened and every possible theory was tried, the ones that didn't work were discontinued. New Deal opponents claim that the government spending didn't end the depression and only WW2 finally did but WW2 was just a gigantic government spending programme, far bigger than the New Deal, so either way it was government spending which ended the depression that was caused by no government spending when the bubble burst in 1929, something that thankfully didn't happen this time.

Yes, lots of people disagree with the current stimulus. If you actually read those articles you'll see that most of the criticism of the stimulus comes from the left with liberal economists claiming it isn't big enough, gives too much in tax cuts etc. The right claim it gives too little in tax cuts. History and all the evidence shows us that tax cuts are a far inferior method of generating economic growth than government spending. So like I said in the previous post no reputable people really disagree that the government should spend money, they just disagree over how the money should be spent.

[Kirkland Laing]

And the government isn't cutting spending because government spending is the whole point of the exercise. Consumers have stopped spending (consumer spending is 70% of the economy/GDP), business have stopped investing because nobody is spending, people are being laid off because everything is slow. Those laid off people cease spending too, which creates more layoffs/falls in spending, which can lead to a vicious deflaionary spiral. like what happened in 1929. That's why the government is increasing spending! If they don't, the whole thing can easily tip into depression because [i]nobody else is spending.[i] The government is currently the lender of last resort and now has also to be the spender of last resort.

[VictorCharlie]

Honestly man I haven't perused the budget. Money spent on public works sounds good to me. Money that creates jobs even temporarily also sounds good to me. Tax credits for buying houses, cars etc that will energize markets I too agree with. But I think you can agree that there is a lot of cash being thrown away by both parties on BS. My personal opinions on what our Federal govt should be spending are not realistic but during a time of crisis to not even give the appearance of tightening the belt is alarming.

[Kirkland Laing]

Honestly man I haven't perused the budget. Money spent on public works sounds good to me. Money that creates jobs even temporarily also sounds good to me. Tax credits for buying houses, cars etc that will energize markets I too agree with. But I think you can agree that there is a lot of cash being thrown away by both parties on BS. My personal opinions on what our Federal govt should be spending are not realistic but during a time of crisis to not even give the appearance of tightening the belt is alarming.

They will throw money away. the economist who originally came up with the idea of fiscal stimulus advocated stuffing banknotes in lemonade bottles and burying them in mineshafts under tons of concrete, so that entrepreneurs would invest money and employ people to dig them out. They just need to spend a lot of money quickly, to get it into the economy asap and so there'll be a huge amount of dumb projects that the media will ridicule. But the bottom line is spending tons of money, however they do it, is the whole point. Cutting spending defeats the object.

[VictorCharlie]

I wonder if I start using my Federal Govt's budgetary policies as my own if I can get a bail out when I am broke and everything I own is sold off?

[Kirkland Laing]

I wonder if I start using my Federal Govt's budgetary policies as my own if I can get a bail out when I am broke and everything I own is sold off?

They should start with putting a bunch of the people who caused the mess in prison. If they don't you don't have to be Infallible to see it'll happen again probably before they even sort out this mess. The banks that are bust are already gaming and looting the government bailout programmes. Heads need to roll and quickly. If Obama doesn't start soon this thing will destroy him.