And when taxes have to go up because the most fiscally reckless president since FDR is followed by the worst depression since FDR, we should name the bill that raises them after George W. Bush.
Let's take a look at the facts regarding FDR and his purported fiscal recklessness. Here's a chart illustrating our Federal debt as a percentage of GDP,
As you can see FDR's spending during the depression was hardly reckless, in fact many (Krugman among them) argue that he should have spent more. By looking at the chart its obvious where the massive debt during FDR's last 2 terms came from - World War II.
Was it reckless for the United States to save Europe and the world from Nazi Germany? That's what Sullivan is inadvertently arguing when he rants about FDR being "fiscally reckless." Take a look at the chart, FDR's spending was well within the norms for the 20th century with the exception of World War II.
Indeed if Bush is the most fiscally reckless president since anyone it's Ronald Reagan.
2 comments:
This has nothing to do with your post, just, it seems, the only way to email you... John Hartford was one of my favorite people to watch in a performance setting, saw him many times. The first time I saw him on television was on the short lived Glen Campbell show, where they had to be nice to him because he'd written two of Glen's more popular songs...
In case you are a younger guy and didn't know, John was the guy who wrote the song Steam Powered Aeroplane...
It's possible that you might be reading too much into Sullivan's statement. His wording is a bit ambiguous and I'm curious as to whether or not he's implying that FDR was fiscally reckless or merely using the FDR as a marker for the beginning of the modern presidency.
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