Protests
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
The recent tea party takes me back to another "party" at the same location 75 to 80 years ago. I stood in front of Dig's restaurant with my father and watched the crowds on the courthouse lawn rioting. Sheriff's deputies were lobbing tear gas bombs out into the crowds trying to stop selling their properties to pay overdue taxes. We ran into a nearby building to escape the gas.
The roaring '20s led into the '30s depression. Economists before and since blamed it on Senator Reed Smoot and Representative W.C. Hawley (representative) for enacting the high tariff which collapsed our imports and exports. It was supposed to have been a mild recession. Other nations did the same and hence an economic collapse around the world.
As hundreds of banks failed and unemployment soared, it became serious. There was no insurance on bank deposits; you lost your money. There was no unemployment insurance or health insurance or social security. The lesson stuck; I only buy what I can pay for. I believe unemployment went to 30-35 percent.
The average good wage was $10 a week. I don't think we younger ones realized we were in a depression of such magnitude. As war clouds began gathering in the late '30s, factories began hiring as defense businesses wrapped up. I eventually got a job at Playtime Industries for 60 cents an hour. It seemed to be an era of good feeling as jobs became available.
I don't think any of us realized that some of the fellows we grew up with and later fellows we trained with would be killed along with 50 million others and the massive destruction of 1,500 cities and towns. I have been back in Europe since and it seems unbelievable how it has been rebuilt. The war ended the depression, but at a heavy price.
If it weren't so serious, it is interesting to contrast the one of the 1930's and the present one. If you were in the war and the depression you don't need it explained. If not, words cannot describe them.
Warren Buffet and others believe the massive credit card debt and overbuilding of 2 million homes on speculation caused it. Who knows for sure? Watching central banks and business activity around the world via Bloomberg news, it seems most nations are trying various stimulus packages.
We are in unchartered territory with a global economy trying to find a solution. National news says we are spending more on this than all of the previous presidents put together. It should show results. Certainly a war to solve this one isn't the answer.
It's hard to form an opinion since borrowing and spending our way out of debt has news been tried before on this scale. Let's hope it works. Opinions don't change anybody else's and don't solve any problems. Watch the unemployment numbers.
George Plew
Warsaw[[In-content Ad]]
The recent tea party takes me back to another "party" at the same location 75 to 80 years ago. I stood in front of Dig's restaurant with my father and watched the crowds on the courthouse lawn rioting. Sheriff's deputies were lobbing tear gas bombs out into the crowds trying to stop selling their properties to pay overdue taxes. We ran into a nearby building to escape the gas.
The roaring '20s led into the '30s depression. Economists before and since blamed it on Senator Reed Smoot and Representative W.C. Hawley (representative) for enacting the high tariff which collapsed our imports and exports. It was supposed to have been a mild recession. Other nations did the same and hence an economic collapse around the world.
As hundreds of banks failed and unemployment soared, it became serious. There was no insurance on bank deposits; you lost your money. There was no unemployment insurance or health insurance or social security. The lesson stuck; I only buy what I can pay for. I believe unemployment went to 30-35 percent.
The average good wage was $10 a week. I don't think we younger ones realized we were in a depression of such magnitude. As war clouds began gathering in the late '30s, factories began hiring as defense businesses wrapped up. I eventually got a job at Playtime Industries for 60 cents an hour. It seemed to be an era of good feeling as jobs became available.
I don't think any of us realized that some of the fellows we grew up with and later fellows we trained with would be killed along with 50 million others and the massive destruction of 1,500 cities and towns. I have been back in Europe since and it seems unbelievable how it has been rebuilt. The war ended the depression, but at a heavy price.
If it weren't so serious, it is interesting to contrast the one of the 1930's and the present one. If you were in the war and the depression you don't need it explained. If not, words cannot describe them.
Warren Buffet and others believe the massive credit card debt and overbuilding of 2 million homes on speculation caused it. Who knows for sure? Watching central banks and business activity around the world via Bloomberg news, it seems most nations are trying various stimulus packages.
We are in unchartered territory with a global economy trying to find a solution. National news says we are spending more on this than all of the previous presidents put together. It should show results. Certainly a war to solve this one isn't the answer.
It's hard to form an opinion since borrowing and spending our way out of debt has news been tried before on this scale. Let's hope it works. Opinions don't change anybody else's and don't solve any problems. Watch the unemployment numbers.
George Plew
Warsaw[[In-content Ad]]
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