CCRC Editorial Section

Doing nothing may be the right move

Published in the Keene Sentinel March 25, 2010

(The 3^rd in a set of reports by an Intelligent Extra-Terrestrial, IET,viewing the Earthians)

The country called America has been going through a recession, during which many Americans who want to work cannot find employment.  This has led to a debate about the “best” way to end the recession, and get people back to work.  Americans have been through a number of such recessions, each having been handled in a different way.  They have tried a range of fixes, from letting the economy repair itself, to pouring lots of government money into “creating” jobs.  Many American leaders are sure they know which approach is the “right” one, but the data are difficult to interpret.  It's impossible to try two different approaches on any one recession, and every recession ends eventually. 

Americans have been asked to believe that the longest recession, in the 1930s, eventually ended due to substantial government action.  But what is the evidence?  The recession was long and deep, and the government reaction was unprecedented.  So it's assumed that the recession ended due to the unprecedented government action.  But isn't there a different, an opposite, interpretation?  Couldn't the government's actions actually have prolonged and deepened the recession?  Was the effect of the government's reaction refreshingly positive, or tragically negative?  Or might it have had no effect whatsoever on the ending of the recession?

This question is of substantial relevance to the present recession, because the current President is using the 1930s recession, and the enormous government reaction to it by then President Roosevelt, as the underpinning of his own enormous reaction to the current recession.  He believes, without a shred of evidence, that if the 1930s president had not reacted as he did, the recession would have been worse, and longer.  This is difficult to figure because the recession ended, not due to years of Roosevelt's efforts, but to the outbreak of a big war.  On these facts alone, the evidence seems to weigh heavily on the side that Roosevelt's reactions actually extended both the length and depth of that recession, that is, Roosevelt's machinations made a bad situation worse.  One would think that the current president would think long and hard before treading down that same path.

Looking back over many eons, and many blips in our own economy, we learned that spending government (our) money to create jobs simply doesn't work.  There was always a better way than just spending government money.  The same amount of money spent in encouraging private companies to take chances worked better and faster, whether it was in the form of less government rules or in bonuses for the development of new or improved things, processes or procedures.  But we also learned that the choice to do nothing was always a difficult one, especially when some people were hurting.

We can only wonder that the Americans did not choose to unleash that special creative spirit that they cherish so much?

Fred Ward
386 Route 123 South
Stoddard 03464

drfred@hughes.net

446-2312