F.D.R’s Example Offers Lessons for Obama

[groovedaddy]

In 1933, as today, a new president stepped into the White House, vowing change and decisive action at a time when a banking crisis posed a grave threat to the nation’s economy.

The economic morass that confronted Franklin D. Roosevelt 76 years ago was undeniably deeper and more ominous than the trouble President Obama is facing. Yet, according to economists and historians, there are also some telling similarities and cautionary lessons to be drawn from the experience of the Roosevelt years in the 1930s.

Roosevelt had his triumphs. He stemmed panic and stabilized the banking system with a combination of deposit insurance, government investment in banks, restrictions on banking practices and his “fireside chat” radio addresses, which repeatedly steadied the national mood and bought Roosevelt time to make changes.

Still, even after the government assistance, the surviving banks were shaken and lending remained anemic — much as the nation’s banks today are reluctant to make loans again, despite receiving more than $300 billion of taxpayers’ money in Round 1 of the federal banking bailout.

So, throughout the 1930s, economic recovery remained frustratingly elusive and arrived only with the buildup for World War II in the 1940s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/business/economy/27fdr.html?th&emc=th

[liberal N proud]

1. Deeper and more ominous? Was it?

[groovedaddy]

2. I suppose this is a suggestion rather than a supposition? n.t

[liberal N proud]

4. Just a question

Not really making any assumptions. It is or it isn't, I don't think we really know yet.

I sure hope it isn't as bad or doesn't get as bad as that, How people survived then still blows my mind.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yes, it was. Not even close to today, in part, because of mechanisms...

created by the Roosevelt administration.