Reply #40: I wasn't going to reply to this thread until I read your post. [View All]

[AdHocSolver]

Sigh! Where to begin.

You wrote:

"The first would be that politicians and economists simply didn't know what to do in 1929, and the social science of economics is simply more advanced and the political systems of the world have the techniques and institutions to prevent a Great Depression."

The causes of the depression and the correct actions to take to alleviate it were known. It only needed for the public to elect FDR and enough Democrats to Congress to have some useful solutions implemented.

The depression of the 1930's was caused by the frauds perpetrated by the financial businesses in the 1920's, just as the current depression was caused by the frauds committed by corporations during the last 15 years.

The Democratic solution in the 1930's had two elements. Pass laws to regulate the corporations and the financial industry as a whole, such as the Glass-Steagall Act, to prevent the kinds of frauds that caused the meltdown. The second was to prime the economy by initiating public works spending like WPA.

The current depression occurred because Congress REPEALED the regulatory laws such as Glass-Steagall so that corporations could repeat the scams and frauds without legal consequences. (By the way, Glass-Steagall was repealed under Clinton. Many Democrats helped out with that activity.)

Unfortunately, the current stimulus package won't do as much good as FDR's stimulus package. In the 1930's, when workers got paychecks, they spent the money buying goods made by other Americans. Today, workers getting paid from stimulus money, because practically everything we buy is made in Asia, will just see the stimulus money fly to China.

As to your last paragraph concerning appendectomies, scientists have discovered mummified remains from ancient Egypt and Rome which showed that those people had survived some really advanced surgery including brain surgery. (To have been able to afford such medical care, it was surmised that the remains were those of wealthy Republicans or wealthy government officials.)