Letter: Obama’s repeating FDR’s failed New Deal policies (April 30)

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES/OPINION, 4/30/2009, Letter by Jeff Limón - History shows that government-run economies don’t work. I do not believe that history repeats itself, but I do believe that history rhymes with itself. ∴ See if these words sound familiar: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work”? Or how about: “I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises.” Or: “I say after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started -. And an enormous debt to boot!”

Well, if you answered Henry Morgenthau Jr., close friend and loyal secretary of the Treasury to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and a key architect of FDR’s New Deal, then you would be right!

My, how quickly we forget our history. I’m wondering why we think that the laws of economics that prevailed in the 1930s will somehow not apply in the coming months and years?

As we slide toward socialism, remember Morgenthau’s words. Remember also the example of East and West Germany. Here were two countries with similar cultures, similar work ethics, similar levels of education, similar history and so forth. The only thing that was different was their system of government. In the West, lower taxes, free markets, entrepreneurial spirit, and prosperity. In the East, socialism and painful poverty.

Jeff Limon, Corvallis