Government spending is key to recovery

To the editor:

When an arcane economic treatise graces the commentary page, the conclusions can influence public policy. Most likely, that was the intention.

On July 13, professor Walter Williams of George Mason University wrote that the New Deal policies were a protracted failure because the meddlesome FDR didn't let the market correct the economic catastrophe. He accurately pointed out that FDR lost his "New Deal" nerve and cut spending in 1937 which led to the highest unemployment of the Great Depression. Mr. Williams also claimed that the Obama stimulus has failed as well and all stimuli are destined to fail.

Mr. Williams concludes his revisionism with the smug assertion that the Great Depression didn't end until World War II. Really? Might I gently offer a different conclusion from that of the learned professor?

World War II was the most massive economic stimulus ever. One hundred and fifty percent of GDP was directed toward defeating fascism. The Great Depression lingered because FDR had little political capital left to continue the deficit spending. He spent too little.

World War II ending the Great Depression only proves that massive economic stimuli can and do work. How Mr. Williams can miss such an obvious conclusion calls into question his fitness regarding this subject.

Paying for such an experiment is a different matter. As a nation, we didn't really concern ourselves with World War II's enormous debt until decades later. We will have to pay for this stimulus as well. Doing so will require a mild entitlement restructure, a disengagement from military deployments and an end to our disabling addiction to petroleum.

Such a course of action may not have the cachet of defeating fascism, but it is just as important to the survival of our nation.

Joe Marroso

Las Vegas

It's a nightmare

To the editor:

Imagine that the Review-Journal, with consistent editorials over the years, has finally realized its goal: no government. Here are some of the results of this accomplishment:

-- A dozen airplanes crashed this week attempting to land at McCarran International Airport due to the fact that there are no federal air controllers.

-- Twenty-six people died of botulism since there is no government inspection of food processing.

-- Because they weren't detected by the FBI, which does not exist anymore, terrorists destroyed three casinos this month.

-- There was a riot at a supermarket as indigent starving people were attempting to take home all the food they could carry. No more food stamps.

-- Hoover Dam is in need of repair but there is no federal authority to authorize this. Flood warnings have been issued for Nevada and Arizona.

-- Utility rates have quadrupled.

-- The current work force cannot contribute to Social Security since all the employees who worked for the agency have been dismissed. The IRS has been disbanded. Washington, D.C., is a ghost town.

-- There is no minimum wage law. Seventy-five percent of the workers in Las Vegas have received a salary decrease.

Of course the above is a silly parody. But even an inefficient government is better then no government at all.

Think about it.

Milton Rosen

Las Vegas

Jesus questions

To the editor:

In response to the recent letter about Sharron Angle, Jesus and politics:

As a devout Christian I find it uncomfortable to assign a political label to Jesus, as some do. I believe those most inclined to do so tend not to be followers.

In part salvation is earned by the relative level of one's sacrifice for the poor. The poor woman who gave a pittance was found more worthy by Jesus than the wealthy man who gave much more but who sacrificed less. And Jesus based compassion on charity not force. Forced compassion is not compassionate.

When considering what political party Jesus may have been a part of, one should ask the following: Is it moral to take one man's labor under the threat of imprisonment in order to give it to another?

I believe Jesus would have found it among the least moral of things to do because one cannot purchase his own redemption with the money of another. Worse, it removes from the other the ability to seek his own salvation through charitable endeavors.

Bob Gore

Las Vegas

Who's radical?

To the editor:

OK, let me get this straight. Harry Reid says the Iraq war "is lost," and that when he wants to, President Obama has a "Negro dialect." He doesn't think there are any unemployed illegals in the Las Vegas construction industry, and that losing "only 36,000 jobs" in one month is "good news."

He has represented Nevada while unemployment and foreclosures in our state have climbed to the highest in the United States. He is in charge of dismantling our economy, destroying our health-care system and redistributing our wealth to those who won't work.

And Sharron Angle is the radical?

Scott Carson

Logandale