Duped into voting for President Obama?

[MannyGoldstein]

41. So from 25% to 15% - a 40% drop

Fits and starts along the way. But still an amazing drop.

Yep, presidents make mistakes. As FDR said:

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another."

And that was the genius of FDR. He tried things. When they failed, he moved on. FDR tried austerity in 1937. It didn't work. So he turned to serious Keynsian pump priming just one year later, and that worked out pretty well, no? After that, FDR permanently shed his economic conservatism and became a Liberal - for the same reason that Elizabeth Warren (and I) eventually became Liberals - because Liberal policies work better. Plain and simple.

And then when we entered the war, even more-serious pump priming took place, and fixed the economy - we enjoyed 35 years of an excellent, growing economy where the 100% did better.

And this is what frustrates me mightily about the current White House - it chooses to ignore history and its own failures. We know from history that austerity, belt-tightening, "responsible cuts" or whatever the Very Serious People are calling it these days doesn't work for the 99%. We know this both from history, and from looking around the globe at what's happening today (e.g., Iceland vs. Europe). Yet Obama keeps insisting on austerity. So this depression continues for the 99%.

I'm finally getting to read Krugman's "End This Depression Now!". Great book. I recommend it if you haven't read it.