Guy Berger Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 I just did some research on historic US inflation and real GDP growth rates. It's amazing how much better run the US economy has been since WW2 -- the fluctuations used to be really massive (and probably unpleasant). A second post has real GDP per capita growth rates. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 Have you read Galbraith's "Money: whence it came and where it went"? It includes a very good and detailed account of America's adventures with money. He reckons the West was won by bank failures and soft money. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 How does Clem feel about this? Shouldn't you get his thoughts first before you form an opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 The Federal Reserve can claim credit for this. They came in after the '29 crash and managed money flows. The figures would bear this out, though I am personally suspicious of their role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 The period from the end of WWII through 1970 will be remembered as the golden age of the country, a time when a middle class was actively pursued by government policy and the American Dream was alive. Alas, that time is gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 The period from the end of WWII through 1970 will be remembered as the golden age of the country, a time when a middle class was actively pursued by government policy and the American Dream was alive. Alas, that time is gone. No question about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 The period from the end of WWII through 1970 will be remembered as the golden age of the country, a time when a middle class was actively pursued by government policy and the American Dream was alive. Alas, that time is gone. No question about it. Not just in the US - that was the case all over ther Western world. But it wasn't sustainable. It may well be that nothing is sustainable; that everything falls apart through its own virtues. The point I was making earlier was that bad management has a role to play in forming history, and not neccessarily a bad one. If Galbraith is right about soft money (bad management) forming a crucial part of the mix that enabled the West to be won so quickly, the world would be a very different place had the views of the hard money men of the East been allowed to prevail. It would plausibly have taken a lot longer for the process to have been completed; and may never have been, had Native Americans the time to formulate different responses to the encroachment of European Americans on their land. But it's anyway unlikely that, given a slower pace of takeover, America would have been in a position to have made a difference in WWI; and that would have given a different situation in WWII. So, there's a time for every kind of policy; every kind of situation. And a time when each has to end. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted September 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Have you read Galbraith's "Money: whence it came and where it went"? It includes a very good and detailed account of America's adventures with money. He reckons the West was won by bank failures and soft money. MG I haven't read it, but it looks interesting. I'll put it on my queue. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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