A year ago, reviewing Amity Schlaes' The Forgotten Man, I noted the eerie similarities between the Depression policies of FDR and our new president, BHO. The runaway spending, the increased regulations, the oratorical denunciations of wealth and business, the tax increases and--a killer--the air of uncertainty that frightened people into holding onto their money instead of investing it: all that made a bad situation worse in the 30s and is threatening recovery now. Today, in addition, the ghastly distraction of health care reform--with its sinister nest of hidden costs--makes matters worse than no action at all.
A year and a half after the recession started, business profits in some sectors are up, the stock market is gingerly attempting a vote of confidence in the future. But unemployment is fiercely resistant to improvement, with unreported unemployment also biting at the heels of recovery. Small businesses and new businesses are still unable to get credit. All over the nation you see the sickening sight of empty storefronts that represent the ruin of this couple's dreams and that businessperson's lifetime savings.
Tom Donahue and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce are on the case, predicting that if the Obama Administration fails to control taxes and spending and regulations, the economy could slip back. If it does slip back now, does anyone doubt that the next bottom will be further down?
