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Mark Stewart on Budget & Economy |
After the 1907 recession (another short one), progressives decided that we could use the federal government to try to prevent recessions. The created the Federal Reserve. And after progressives gained more power, in the 1930s they use Big government to try to steer projects, create "investment" and directly employ more people. The result: the three longest recessions that we've ever had.
In the 1930s the Federal Reserve tightened the money supply when it should have loosened it, and the New Deal legislation moved people around, but gave no permanent recovery. We pulled out of recession a full 11 years later.
In the 1970s, the Fed did not prevent a recession, and it did not combat it well. And currently, we are in the ninth year of recession, despite Obama's engineering and Bernanke's and Yellin's Fed policies, many Americans are out of work.
A: God no. A market-led recovery is the best kind. When the economy falters in the Free Market and talented people are out of work, employers at some point offer them work, because they are available relatively cheaply (some work is better than no work, unless the welfare benefits are high). That's what gets people back to work.