January 5, 2009

Protectionism Works Great in a Downturn

The idea that we learned any lessons from the 1930s shows zero empirical proof. I guess tight money is not too likely, but the new administration is ready to bring back the WPA and Smoot-Hawley. Reuters:

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Both President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will huddle with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on Monday to try to advance a huge economic stimulus bill that Obama hopes can be enacted quickly, despite Republican reservations.

Obama's transition team said it is mulling "buy American" provisions for the stimulus package that could favor U.S. companies over foreign competitors.


Bottled water and ammunition, kids. Bottled water and ammunition.

Hat-tip: Professor Makiw

Economics and Markets Posted by John Kranz at January 5, 2009 12:34 PM

Einstein's reputed definition of insanity...

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at January 5, 2009 1:44 PM

I think it was actually Benjamin Franklin who said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Posted by: Boulder Refugee at January 5, 2009 2:36 PM

Many modern sayings are falsely attributed to various historical figures, hence why I said "reputed" when invoking Einstein. I've never heard this quote attributed to Franklin, who's credited with but didn't actually say or write, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding on lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" That particular one always pisses me off, and I've even called onto the carpet a certain Pepperdine prof who should have known better. In the end, he admitted he didn't really know where it came from.

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at January 7, 2009 4:01 PM

When in doubt, always attribute Mark Twain or Samuel Johnson.

My favorite on this is "If you're not a liberal when you;re 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative when you're 50 you have no brain." I've seen that attributed to several, as early as William Blake.

Posted by: jk at January 7, 2009 5:44 PM | What do you think? [4]