FDR won the 1932 presidential election and inherited the Depression. In 1933, his first year in office he signed the Glass-Stegall Act and began the direct hiring of the unnemployed for public works projects.
Pres. Obama mentioned his similar circumstances in his DNC speech.
That’s were the similarity ends. The stimulus bill he signed was pork barrel at its best.
In 1999, Pres. Clinton signed the repeal of the Glass-Stegall Act, and made it legal to speculate on banking and insurance activities.
Lehman Brothers did both, and packaged shaky mortgages sold to investors. The collapse of that institution was the largest bankruptcy in history and began the Great Recession.
In 2006, most of the Glass-Stegall Act was passed again, ending the cause but not the damage.
You have the picture of Presidents Clinton and Obama embracing. Ironically, it’s the man who caused the recession and the man who cannot fix it. What a team! Neither is an FDR.
Larry F. Short, Homestead
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