According to the Business and Media Institute, the New Deal was not the answer to the Great Depression. This is an excerpt from an article written by Donald J. Boudreaux last November:
"No less an authority than FDR's Treasury secretary and close friend, Henry Morganthau, conceded this fact to Congressional Democrats in May 1939: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am 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!""
We are now in a position where we can choose to make the same mistake again (and saddle our children and grandchildren with enormous debt) or we can try the solutions that have worked in the past (tax cuts in the sixties, eighties, and after 9/11 revived the economy). To point to the failed economic policies of the Bush administration is uninformed at best and dishonest at worst. The Bush administration spent too much money, that is true, but the basis of this crisis is the mortgage market. If you would like to look at the Congressional hearings where Barney Frank said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in great shape, I suggest you watch the Burning Down The House video on YouTube. You will also see the Bush Administration trying to convince Congress to put some rules on Fannie and Freddie. The people (Congress) who brought us this problem will only make it worse with the stimulus package.
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