Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

Government spending?

"No nation in history has ever taxed itself or spent itself into prosperity." ~ Burton Folsom Jr. in Creating a Recipe for Recovery

Hmm. He may have a point, though some think FDR did it in the 1930s with his New Deal.

I think, though, that in the past ten years that consensus has been breaking apart among historians, thanks largely to revisionist scholarship. Books on the New Deal Not all revisionist history is bad, esp. when many have routinely and reflexively engaged in hero worship toward FDR over the decades. After all, I was instructed by lefty professors that he "saved" capitalism.

The truth is very different, it turns out.

(In the 1930s there was John Flynn, but who's heard or read him?)

What we're now facing, if Prof. Folsom is correct, is The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy.

The authors say (Stephen Moore is very active and used to be with the Cato Institute): politicians today care more about “fairness” and taxing the rich (who already pay most of the income tax anyway) than they do about economic growth.

The results will be especially punitive to the people who are most presented as in need. The poor.

What ever happened to JFK Democrats? "A rising tide lifts all boats"? We need that.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

While there are a few thinkers out there who favor the smaller government approach, the fact is tthe Great Depression ended during a Democratic administration that used liberal policies. In addition, Reagan, though he cut taxes, deficit spent by a far larger sum, and ended the Carter recession. Clinton raised taxes modestly but cut the deficit to end the Bush I recession. Taxes are tool to maintan a complex economy; there are times when taxes need to be low, and times when they need to be higher. I think the ideological approach that taxes must be one way or the other is meaningless because taxes are not a measure of quality of life. They are simply a technical tool for regulating an economy.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

I agree. Just it wasn't the FDR administration.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

The party of Truman and JFK died on the streets of Chicago in 1968. What resulted was a party of special interests ( teachers, unions, trial lawyers) who wield disproportionate influence and force the party to the left...Before anybody jumps on me, the Republican Party has their own laissez-faire special interests ( corporate America)...
The tax and spend and spend and tax some more will ultimately fail and destroy the economy by marginalizing the tax payers and putting larger and larger burdens on them. At the same time, it will take those at the lower end off the tax rolls, making them beholden to the Democratic party.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

FDR borrowed money and printed what he couldn't borrow. Had WWII not occurred -- and always interesting to see how FDR knew the Japanese were going to strike Pearl, much as has been said said that W knew a hit was coming on 9/11 -- would have continued staggering under low employment for decades, in all likelihood.

WWII saved FDR's borrow-and-spend machine approach. Nothing else.


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Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

Ah-h, don't worry about being jumped on. Once you see who's doing the jumping, you learn how to laugh in new and ever-more-joyful and liberating ways!! ;)



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Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

So true. FDR's monkeying with the economy basically made the Great Depression longer. His policies cultivated an atmosphere of hightened uncertainty, which is detrimental to any capitalistic economy. Very similar to Obama's policies of today.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

Producing something of value is the only way to prosper. You must be able to generate, and produce something of value that other people want.

We still lead the world at producing, our latest failures were simply thinking we can create money from money and that will be our prosperity. We leveraged everything on nothing... on producing nothing, but zeros in computers, nothing real behind it.

Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

Production is the ONLY foundation for prosperity. Any else is just smoke and mirrors. And don't look now but the country that produces more than half the world combined is China.



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Re: Where Does Prosperity Come From?
 

sorry, dude......the bush recession was techincally over before clinton took office......please be more factual than biased