Writing on NRO, Michael Darda compares the current spate of legislation that would limit trade and raise taxes to the deadly combination of bad trade and tax policies in the early 1930s that did so much to turn an economic slump into a grinding depression. You can read Darda’s piece here.
My only argument with Darda is that he suggests that the root of the problem now is that the people in Congress don’t have a clue about history. That’s true, but even if they did, I doubt that any of them would give up a chance to score points with short-sighted, envious voters and give future opponents easy attack ads by opposing protectionist, wealth-bashing bills.
