How to Get Out of a Recession

This is my attempt at blogging. I have never done this before and I am sure I will break some rules and do the things that novices do. I apologize in advance and can accept almost any criticism, so have at it.

For years I have been involved in an email debate with my uncle. We have furiously debated current events of all types. He's been a worthy opponent. I have a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for my uncle, but when it comes to politics and similar ideologies; I believe he's wrong.

Our debate has kept me honest. Not surprisingly, not every news story that declares Nancy Pelosi is a freakish hermaphrodite is true. But more on that later. We have both spent hours squinting at our monitors vetting stories to make the other's party look broken. I feel like I have waded through this large pile of manure that young ideologues attempt to pass off as journalism and have filtered out some truth. I know I have analyzed this stuff more than the average citizen and I believe I have some interesting things to say. We shall see.

Recently, my uncle wrote to me declaring that historians hold Hoover responsible for the Great Depression and FDR is regarded as the one who pulled us out of it, and he did it with stimulus money. So I looked into this claim. It turns out, one of the most popular opinions for the depression was a global collapse due to Europe abandoning the gold standard, hardly the fault of Hoover. This happened as a result of huge reparations left for Germany to pay. The Deutschland was forced to print money and soon Europe followed suit.

In 2004, Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian, two economists from UCLA (Ohanian is vice chair of the university's Economic Department), reasoned that FDR actually PROLONGED the Depression through pro-labor and anti-competition legislation signed into law in 1933.

What's interesting is what was reported by UCLA's Newsroom site. These are comments from 2004. I don't think many people had even heard of Obama then and the term "stimulus" was not widely used either. I point these things out so no one can accuse either of professing a political agenda. These findings were too early to be in response to anything this administration has done.

"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump," said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA's Department of Economics. "We found that a relapse isn't likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies." http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx

That's almost prophetic. I encourage everyone to check out www.recovery.gov This is the website the government has established to show us an accounting of the stimulus package passed earlier this year. It's a joke. Even Democrats are calling for some accuracy and accountability from the White House.

Here's a bit from ABCnews.com, not FoxNews or Rush Limbaugh.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey is calling the inaccuracies on Recovery.gov, the $18 million Web site that's tracking stimulus spending, "outrageous," and called on the Obama administration to immediately fix problems that have come to light.

"The administration owes itself, the Congress, and every American a commitment to work night and day to correct the ludicrous mistakes," said Obey, D-Wis. "Credibility counts in government and stupid mistakes like this undermine it. We've got too many serious problems in this country to let that happen."

Bravo for Mr. Obey. More to come...