But there is a real world comparison to be made between today's economic picture and the 1930s Depression era under the regime of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt, like Obama, entered office in hard economic times (although March 1933 was much worse than Jan. 2009 by any economic measurement). Roosevelt's early ears in office featured increased personal income tax rates (top rate raised to 79%), a new non-distributed corporate profits tax, a new Social Security tax, and hefty increases in federal excise taxes that already existed plus entirely new ones. Some of Roosevelt's make work New Deal projects resembled Obama's stimulus projects. The value of the dollar under Roosevelt was deliberately decreased, although by a different means than today. The "wealthy" were constantly lambasted by Roosevelt, just as they are by Obama and his henchmen. And just like today, the net result was little or no overall improvement over a prolonged period.
Roosevelt did one thing smart, though. Even while he was spending like a drunken sailor, he was putting the dollar on a strong footing, backed by gold, which was no longer traded and speculated. That way, though the dollar was seriously devalued, it had a mechanism to bring it back. Obama, however, is not interested in doing the same. So the dollar is no longer the world currency it once was.
FReeper Book Club: Introduction to Atlas Shrugged
Part I, Chapter I: The Theme
Part I, Chapter II: The Chain
Part I, Chapter III: The Top and the Bottom
Part I, Chapter IV: The Immovable Movers
Part I, Chapter V: The Climax of the d’Anconias
Part I, Chapter VI: The Non-Commercial
Part I, Chapter VII: The Exploiters and the Exploited
Part I, Chapter VIII: The John Galt Line
Part I, Chapter IX: The Sacred and the Profane
Part I, Chapter X: Wyatt’s Torch
Part II, Chapter I: The Man Who Belonged on Earth
Part II, Chapter II: The Aristocracy of Pull
Part II, Chapter III: White Blackmail
Part II, Chapter IV: The Sanction of the Victim
Part II, Chapter V: Account Overdrawn
Part II, Chapter VI: Miracle Metal
Part II, Chapter VII: The Moratorium on Brains
Part II, Chapter VIII: By Our Love
Part II, Chapter IX: The Face Without Pain or Fear or Guilt
Part II, Chapter X: The Sign of the Dollar
Part III, Chapter I: Atlantis
Part III, Chapter II: The Utopia of Greed
Part III, Chapter III: Anti-Greed
Part III, Chapter IV: Anti-Life
Part III, Chapter V: Their Brothers’ Keepers
Part III, Chapter VI: The Concerto of Deliverance
Part III, Chapter VII: “This is John Galt Speaking”
Part III, Chapter VIII: The Egoist
Part III, Chapter IX: The Generator
Part III, Chapter X: In the Name of the Best Within Us
Coda: Ten Years After
Afterword and Suggested Reading
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