Put Stimulus First . . .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=atf_2mZ2XQKw&refer=exclusive
By Heidi Przybyla
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- When John Maynard Keynes came to Washington in 1934 to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to spend more to revive the U.S. economy, Roosevelt didnât pay the British economist much attention, Thomas Worsley recalls. He hopes President Barack Obama wonât repeat Rooseveltâs mistake.
Worsley, then a 23-year-old economist about to take a job in the Treasury Department, says Roosevelt balked at too much economic stimulus, and even allowed conservative Democrats to talk him into reining in federal outlays in 1937.
Now, at 97, Worsley is watching as Obama wrestles with the deepest economic slump since the Great Depression and is coming under fire from critics at home and abroad over his spending plans. Ultimately, Worsley said, only World War II delivered the U.S. from its hard economic times, and he advises Obama to keep pumping money into the economy.
âThat vindicated Keynesâs argument,â Worsley said during an interview at his brick townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where his framed economics degrees from the University of Virginia, including a doctorate, are displayed. âYou have to get enough spending going to get private enterprise interested in taking chances on investing.â
The similarities between the current crisis and the Depression are clear, said Worsley. Speculation and a failing banking system stoked both disasters. The two presidents confronted competing pressures over whether to spend more money or cut taxes. A lack of regulation contributed to the mess.
And neither president had an obvious path to success.
(see web-link above for more comparisons and contrasts).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=atf_2mZ2XQKw&refer=exclusive
By Heidi Przybyla
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- When John Maynard Keynes came to Washington in 1934 to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to spend more to revive the U.S. economy, Roosevelt didnât pay the British economist much attention, Thomas Worsley recalls. He hopes President Barack Obama wonât repeat Rooseveltâs mistake.
Worsley, then a 23-year-old economist about to take a job in the Treasury Department, says Roosevelt balked at too much economic stimulus, and even allowed conservative Democrats to talk him into reining in federal outlays in 1937.
Now, at 97, Worsley is watching as Obama wrestles with the deepest economic slump since the Great Depression and is coming under fire from critics at home and abroad over his spending plans. Ultimately, Worsley said, only World War II delivered the U.S. from its hard economic times, and he advises Obama to keep pumping money into the economy.
âThat vindicated Keynesâs argument,â Worsley said during an interview at his brick townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where his framed economics degrees from the University of Virginia, including a doctorate, are displayed. âYou have to get enough spending going to get private enterprise interested in taking chances on investing.â
The similarities between the current crisis and the Depression are clear, said Worsley. Speculation and a failing banking system stoked both disasters. The two presidents confronted competing pressures over whether to spend more money or cut taxes. A lack of regulation contributed to the mess.
And neither president had an obvious path to success.
(see web-link above for more comparisons and contrasts).
