Tag Archives: FDR

One of the bankers was Prescott Bush, later senator from Connecticut, father of President G. W. H. Bush, and grandfather of President G. W. Bush. The whistleblower was Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler.Big ThinkRemembering when bankers tried to overthrow FDR and install a fascist dictator Matt Davis

Longish but worth a read. Covers a lot of ground.The InterceptA Guaranteed Jobs-For-All Program Is Gaining Traction Among 2020 Democratic Hopefuls Kate Aronoff

The first half of the twentieth century was a challenging time for economics. The Great Depression wiped out incomes, investments, and most importantly, optimism. But when the traditional laissez-faire approach proved ineffective, the work of Keynes and FDR showed that there was another way. The New Deal employed American workers directly and restored confidence among business owners. Today, we could benefit from a similar program. It’s time for a new New Deal, or a Job Guarantee Program,...

Jan Kregel opened this year’s Minsky Conference (which just wrapped up yesterday) with a reminder that the broader public challenges we face today are still in many ways an echo of those that faced the nation in 1930s. What follows is an abridged version of those remarks: This year’s conference takes place in an increasingly charged and divisive economic and political atmosphere. Sharp differences in approach are present within the new administration, within the majority party, and even...

So Krugman continues to argue that Friedman's calculations are implausible. Well sure. But that's the point to some extent as Galbraith discussed here. The Plan involves huge (read yuge; wink, wink, nudge, nudge) spending, and it should have almost by definition implausible results looking from the perspective of recent history. Imagine the implausible effect that Social Security had on old age poverty. Or the incredible reduction in inequality that the New Deal policies had.If you were in...