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New Deal and Obama policies

To the Editor:

It is fitting this week of the 65th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death, that we pay tribute to the great accomplishments of the New Deal in addition to his leadership during World War II. The current campaign against the policies of President Barack Obama is reminiscent of the campaign of 1936 against the re-election of FDR. The head of the Republican National Committee called his policies socialism, communism and the redistribution of wealth. Most of those attacks were aimed at the Social Security system, which had been enacted in 1935. Also bold government programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Home Owners Loan Corp., the Public Works Administration (PWA), etc., which helped bring us out of the Great Depression by giving jobs to the 25 million unemployed, were under attack. FDR realized that when capitalism failed, the government had to become the employer of last resort to restore our economic equilibrium.

Historians still debate about the success of Roosevelt's policies. We only know that when the Fascist Juggernaut of Germany, Japan, and Italy threatened the world democracies in the late 1930s, we were ready for them. We were united by a patriotic fervor inspired by FDR, and his wise leadership led us to victory. The debt we incurred to win this war makes today's paltry sum we've spent on our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere insignificant.

Add the trillions spent on recovery from the September collapse of our world economy and we haven't even begun to approach the national debt after World War II when it exceeded 120 percent of our Gross National Product.

Our most serious indebtedness in our current economic crisis approached 109 percent of GDP (hitherto known as GNP) in early 2009. Since then, it has continued to fall below 100 percent even with the huge outlays to save the banking system, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Now we have launched a bold new health care system, which will lower costs over the long run even more. Like the New Deal, we have taken a needed courageous step just as we did in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Even with the huge debt from World War II, we were still confident enough to launch the Marshall Plan, the GI Bill to educate our returning service men and women, the creation of the most modern interstate highway system ever imagined and other progressive policies during the ensuing years. Also we still enjoy the parks, roads, dams, bridges, etc. built during the New Deal of FDR. We still enjoy the benefits of a very expanded Social Security system, which has been enhanced over the years to include the disabled, farmers, other self-employed, and under employed people working near the poverty level to say nothing of the Medicare system, which provides security to the most vulnerable of our citizens.

We just need the courage and foresight of a Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be innovative in today's world. We also need the cooperation of those who are short on evidence of our failure and long on hysterical, vitriolic rhetoric like those naysayers of the 1930s.

Jean Hamm


Readers Comments

FDR’s False Legacy To the
Submitted by smills40@yahoo.com (not verified) on Thu, 2010-04-15 21:17.
FDR’s False Legacy To the Editor: I must respond to the letter to the editor concerning FDR’s Legacy. This letter is a good example that if you repeat a falsehood enough times it becomes the truth. I do not blame the author for thinking the way she does since many teachers and the main stream media believe as she does because they too have heard it many times. But if you have a basic understanding of economics and apply common sense one can easily conclude that you cannot spend your way to prosperity. The new deal and massive government did not bring us out of the depression like many people think, in reality it prolonged the agony making the depression last much longer than necessary. A good example of what works in an economic crisis like what we have experienced recently, and in the 1930’s, is to look at how the depression of 1920-1921 was handled. Depression of 1920-1921 you ask? Because it did not last very long and did not drag on for a decade people forgot about it and for the most part is ignored by history and economic teachers. In 1920 the unemployment had jumped from 4% to 12% (a little worse than we are experiencing now) and the GNP declined 17%. Instead of massive government spending and stimulus packages the government under President Harding did the opposite. Between 1920 and 1922 the budget was cut nearly in half and tax rates were slashed for all income levels. The results? The national debt was reduced by one third and by 1922 unemployment was down to 6.7% and by 1923 it was down to 2.4%! Harding took a lot of heat for these actions mainly by liberal big government minded people and was labeled as one of the worst presidents by many people that bought into this criticism. But if we look at actions and results rather than rhetoric we can actually learn something. Understanding where wealth comes from also allows one to come to the same conclusion that the government cannot spend to create prosperity. Wealth comes from adding value to something or in other words producing something. A pile of lumber has some value but if one makes a table from it now it has more value. The difference between what the lumber was worth and what the table is worth is what too many people today think is a bad thing…profit. However this profit allows the producer to buy things other people produced and this happening over and over creates wealth. The government produces nothing! Therefore government cannot bring prosperity. Government is an expense that takes away from prosperity just like expenses take away from your own prosperity! Some expenses are necessary but too many and you will destroy your wealth. For those of you who do not understand what the Tea Party people are upset about it is that they understand what I just explained and know that if the path of explosive government spending that has occurred under President Obama, and to be fair the last few months of the Bush administration, that we will destroy our wealth and will experience the 1930’s or worse all over again. If we do not learn our history we are doomed to repeat it! Scott Miller
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