About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

More WW II Responses - BO Follows FDR's Winning Electoral Ways

Below are two more responses re how WW II ended the Great Depression. What appears to be a complicated matter really becomes quite simple when all of the economic facts are known – & we are getting there. For instance, in 1930 government spending was 3% of GDP meaning there was not much taxation needed to cover this spending. After FDR's presidencies in the 1930s this figure increased to 13% – still quite modest by today's 25%. Keynes was writing from this standpoint when he called for government spending – namely, a modest deficit in recession for a short time that will be repaid in good times being OK, which is exactly what happened in WW II as documented especially in #2 below. In Keynes day 97% of the federal budget was discretionary. Today it is 78% mandatory (defined as interest & entitlements) meaning there is no latitude for the Keynesian model. These are the big differences between the 1930s & today – of course BO makes no distinction in erroneously following the Keynesian model. In fact, if Lord Keynes was alive today he would be the first person to object to BO's use of Keynesian economics.

---Response #1---

Doug - Just a quick comment on the WW II subject. As for our recovery after WWII let's not forget that much of the industrialized world was left in shambles. America's war machine was in good shape and ready to supply the world to fulfill that pent-up demand. As, I have said many times, money must come in from outside of your economic sphere for an economy to grow and sustain. The recovery after WWII proves that. Without the world-wide demand for American goods, Americans would not have had money to fill their demand.

---Response #2---

Doug - Let me add my perspective on the WW II matter. I was a teen during the war years and I can definitely relate to the "pent-up demand" of the people when the war was over. With rationing on food and other items for the war years, it was no surprise that people were eager for consumer goods. Because so many worked for the war effort building planes, ships, guns, bullets, bombs etc. they found themselves with money to spend. Car companies that converted to making vehicles for the army went back to making cars for consumers. The same with other companies such as GE that went back to making refrigerators and washing machines and dryers and people bought them. Supermarkets started springing up offering foods you couldn't get during the war years. Everyone was tired of austerity, they had the money and wanted the goods, and business began to boom. The free market took over and did very well, thank you. Proof, once more that the free market is the answer to prosperity.

Posted by ReturnToExcellence.net at 11:20 PM

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJuly 24, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    Doug, Thanks for posting my comments. I could tell so many stories about life in the war years that so many people today have no clue about. Things like the civil defense volunteers that walked the streets every night making sure that the blackout curtains were closed on every window so no light could be seen from the sky in case of attack. The air raid drills in school where you had to quickly duck under the desk. The young men in the neighborhood that were called to service and never came home. The banners that hung in the windows with blue stars for those family members serving and the gold stars for those who died. And finally, the jubilation in the streets when it was over. It is sad that so many of us are gone and the stories gone with them. Most of the country today will never know or understand what those times were like and that's too bad.

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