commentary by Roger Erickson
As in simple minded thinking. Yet this kind of simpleton's discussion gets disseminated far and wide by newspaper editorial staff. It's very unhelpful to our nation - which desperately needs to elevate, not depress the level of public discussion of currency operations and fiscal policy.
Letter to the Editor
Taking Exception
In this letter, the writer suggests that:
If Mr. Obama is looking to propel economic recovery, he could do far worse than to embrace the legacy of Harding.
Harding was elected during the “panic” (depression) of 1920, when unemployment grew from 4 percent to 11.7 percent, the gross domestic product fell by 24 percent, and the production of goods and services dropped by 21 percent. These conditions were worse than those in the first year of what became known as the “Great Depression” a decade later.
Under Harding’s leadership, federal spending was cut in half by 1922 and, unlike Herbert Hoover and Barack Obama, he did not seek nor implement a stimulus policy. With these policies in place, the post-World War I depression ended by the summer of 1921. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent in 1922 and then to an astonishing 2.4 percent in 1923, the last year of Harding’s administration.
Richard E. Sincere Jr., Charlottesville
The writer is a member of the Charlottesville City Republican Committee.
ps: There's only one comment to his article, at the Post, but at least it raises some of the many context-dependent flags comparing different contexts.
If this passes as editorial approach to public policy, are we doomed?
