Sunday, March 8, 2009

Deja vue: Morgenthau was right.



"On May 9, 1939, Henry Morgenthau Jr., the Secretary of the Treasury and one of the most powerful men in America, had a startling confession to make. He made this remarkable admission before the influential Democrats who ran the House Ways and Means Committee.

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I'm wrong...somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. 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 an enormous debt to boot!" Taken from "New Deal or Raw Deal" Burton W. Folsom Jr. Pages 1&2.

"The New Deal, especially in the arena of finance, was rarely the result of consistent planning. As Roosevelt conceded,"We seldom know, six weeks in advance, what we are going to do."" Taken from "New Deal or Raw Deal" Burton W. Folsom Jr. Page 103

What is the old adage "those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it". Well it seems that the leadership of our country hasn't learned our history. My fear is that they will make some of the same mistakes but on a much grander scale and therefor cause much greater damage.

God help us if it takes a World War III to bring us out of this mess.