U.S. Economy

Some are claiming that the attacks of September 11 triggered this latest economic slide, but all signs indicate that the U.S. economy already was in recession even before the attacks. 

Presidents assume near dictatorial powers during wars, and FDR was able to manipulate World War II to provide moral legitimacy to his domestic agenda. With the war, Roosevelt could boast of eliminating unemployment at home while fighting evil abroad. Not a bad deal.

The pessimistic scenario is not only that American businessmen, students, and tourists will forever fear to travel in any nation with a Muslim community. It could also mean disinvestment overseas, the further impoverishment of the developing world, a lasting world depression, a world split into major warring blocks, and police-state policies at home.

Is there any merit to the popular definition of recession? Why must it be two quarters of negative growth and not one, or perhaps three? Frank Shostak gives another view and assesses the prospects for recovery.

When we talk about demand for money, what we really mean is the demand for money's purchasing power. After all, people don't want a greater amount of money in their pockets; they want greater purchasing power in their possession.

We should never tire in our mission to point out that there is an alternative to the Politically Correct Left and the Militarized Right: that there is freedom itself, the genuine article, and a tradition of thought in defense of freedom unmatched by any other in its rigor and dedication.

Once again, we are back to trusting the government to protect us, even at a time when property owners are begging for the right to provide their own protection.

While not quite Keynesian pyramids or payments to farmers to plow up their surplus crops, this is still, sadly, yet another New Deal in the making.

It is no surprise that in our current crisis we see economic fallacies calling for "temporary" government interventions in the economy popping up like mushrooms after a rain. 

It is conceivable that stocks might have come back after September 11. But the meddlers in DC seemed to be doing everything in their power to drive it down and out.