Sep 24 2008
Revisiting the Great Depression
So, given the current economic crisis in our country it is only natural that Americans are taking a look back at the Great Depression: making comparisons between the banking system then and now, looking at the government’s reaction—which was laissez-faire at first, and testing the safeguards in our society that were established with FDR’s New Deal. There are some great lessons that Americans today can learn from this past experience. But sadly, as usual, Americans are not interested in the past. On Monday CBS News anchor Katie Couric interviewed VP candidate Joe Biden, a politician who is known for speaking “off the cuff,” being unrehearsed and natural even if it means making a mistake. So it is no surprise that Biden got some major history facts wrong in the interview. What is shocking is the decision by CBS news to just let the error go unchecked. If Couric is not quick enough to question him on the spot, CBS should have either edited out the mistake or made a call to the campaign for a response before the interview aired. But the larger issue is that there are great lessons that Americans today can learn from the past…but that means we need to look back.
Here is the clip—see if you can recognize Biden’s history mistake:
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What Biden did wrong in his interview is he said that when the stock market crashed President Roosevelt was in office, but he was wrong. Acutally, it was President Herbert Hoover who was in office.
To understand the links between the Great Depression and the current crisis, one must understand what that link is. That link my friends is that Hoover during the time at which the Recession was beginning to turn around raised taxes and that is how the Great Depression became so great. Now to get to that link, which is that Obama has promised to raise our taxes. And if Obama is elected he will do so. Now I am not endorsing McCain here. I say vote Bob Barr 08. He is an American Hero. Well either vote for him or Harvey Dent cause Two Face Harvey is what your going to get with McCain and Obama.
Here is an article from last week’s Newsweek….the author, Robert J. Samuelson frequently reports on socioeconomic issues. I often include aritcles of his on my final exams so it’s a good idea to get familiar with his style during the course of the year.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/162138/output/print