The last time the government tried spending its way out of a Depression, we had two Presidents attempting to do so. One was called Herbert Hoover and the other Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Myth has it that Hoover was an evil capitalist who nearly destroyed the country, only to have it saved by FDR. In fact, Hoover instituted socialist policies as soon as the stock market crashed. He raised taxes, increased government spending and imposed tariffs on American enterprise. Four years of this, and the Depression worsened.
FDR came into office and did the same kind of things — only more so. After two terms in office, the Great Depression (12 years old at this point) still had not ended. In fact, there was another stock market collapse and what was called the “Depression within the Depression.” So what happened next? World War II.
Today, people see George W. Bush as Herbert Hoover. In a sense, he is. He was no capitalist. But he posed as one, and now capitalism gets the blame for the economic disaster that took place on his watch. Obama and the Democrats will spend, in contemporary dollars, the equivalent (or more) of what FDR did. Government will grow and freedom will decline. Who knows what the economy will look like when it’s all over. As for a war to end it all — who knows what that would look like, either.
It is said that those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. It’s time for a little history lesson — to prevent its repetition, while there’s still time.