A Brief History Lesson

For those of you not familiar with American economic history, this country suffered a major economic downturn in the 1930's. Maybe you've heard about it. Now, the way the Great Depression was stopped, or at least mitigated, was the liberal introduction of money into the American economy.

How was this done? How did Roosevelt inject billions of dollars into our collective pockets to be spent on goods and services thus motivating the economy? Well, he didn't do it by sending a few hundred dollars back to the taxpayers. He spent huge amounts of money on American infrastructure.

The American federal government stimulated the economy by employing legions of people in fairly good-paying jobs to build roads, run electrical lines, build and renovate courthouses and colleges (a trip around historic Denton, Texas will reveal many of these works) and generally modernize the less advanced areas of our nation.

So great was this idea that it not only employed thousands upon thousands of the unemployed and hungry, but those newly employed workers spent their hard-earned dollars on goods and services. Those supplying desired goods and services were paid and able to spend that money on goods and services that they desired. In case you were wondering, that's economic stimulation.

So, here we are at the dawn of the 21st century. Our economic woes are not as bad as the Great Depression, but they're getting pretty bad and unemployment and underemployment is getting worse. It is high time America embraced the proven strategy of the New Deal and spent money modernizing America for our new century. Let's repair our roads and bridges. Let's fix up our national parks. Let's build some schools. Let's get internet access into every home in America. By doing these things, we not only employ workers in high-paying jobs that will provide their families with needed goods and health coverage, but it pumps money into the economy and, in turn, grows more money.

Moreover, like the Tennessee Valley Authority, we could bring all of America into the new economy. The TVA created new consumers by connecting people to the electric age, readying them to work in factories and buy refrigerators and radios. Internet access could do the same. Imagine rural families readily able to sell and buy goods to and from anywhere in the world. Imagine the tax revenue those new consumers and producers could generate if we only took the step of stimulating our economy in a tried and true proven method.