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Bankruptcy is the only choice for these 'greedy, non-caring, lack of common knowledge, high-dollar fat cats' as without re-organizing, backing up and thinking for a change, their disasters will put America into Bankruptcy! Then what happens to America's future? Government, on all levels, must run like a private business, eliminating jobs, cutting salaries and freebies, or our children won't have a future! Bailouts shouldn't be an option for Freddie, Fannie, AIG, Big 3 or anyone else taking Taxpayers' money! AIG, two weeks after it received $85 billion, senior executives took a $440,000.00 resort trip. CEO is now taking a $1 a year salary! Yeah right? He insists on providing $400 million in "retention" bonuses for 2,000 in upper management. On average, that's a $200,000.00 present! Come to think of it, their lack of common knowledge, greed, and I don't care attitude, helped promote Nafta and Cafta which wound up eliminating jobs! Even to a dummy, this means "time to cut production on automobiles, stop building houses, as people no longer have jobs to pay for anything! Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out! Taxpayers will give politicians, CEOS, and other fat cats a couple choices "A one-way ticket across the ocean with only the clothes on their backs, as their bank accounts, homes, and anything else of value belongs to Taxpayers and must be used to pay off trillions of dollars of debt they're sticking Taxpayers with!" OR, a recent cartoon, put them in state jails (not federal country clubs) and throw away the keys! While I'm on a roll,"Why would these high-dollar criminals think they're Royalty?" You can't make a 'Silk Purse' from a 'Pig's Ear'! They're not as good as the ones the court system, puts in state jails, daily, for robberies, forgeries, and fraud!

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What a study in ignorance this column is. The ways in which Roosevelt intervened, and particularly the ways that failed, have been one of the major focuses of the dialog now as world economic leaders struggle to get ahead of this curve. The fact is that some of the ways in which the Roosevelt administration intervened, as seems to have seeped into the edges of Sowell's consciousness, did set us back. Other interventions helped, i.e., the campaigns to use government spending like the New Deal programs as stimulus, although they were not sufficiently sustained to overcome their incompatibility with other measure taken. Of course, the intervention that really made the difference was World War II and the massive campaign of government spending and stimulus it caused. Essentially, what the consensus among world economists is now is that our only hope is to implement World War II levels of government-directed stimulus without the war part. Nice idea, but it could lead to something like socialism, and that would make Mr. Sowell very sad.

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Mr. Sowell: Below is a copy of an email sent to David Sirota in a response to an article he wrote concerning this very subject. The offer contained therein applies to you as well. Calvin Mr. Sirota: Having just read an article by Thomas Sowell (“Another Great Depression?”), I read your article (FDR Prolonged the Depression? Really?) with the preconceived notion that unemployment went up due to government intervention and not the market crash. As your article lead me in just the opposite direction, I came away confused once again. Attempting to get at the truth by reading factual(?) articles by seemingly intelligent people on both sides of an argument might not be such a good idea. As this is history we may, or may not, want to repeat it is important to get it right. I did some research on the Internet but could not find any sources (only spent about 45 minutes) that had unemployment figures earlier than 1948. This leads me to believe earlier figures would have to be generated by historical research. I would love to see a graph of actual numbers and their source. You stated that that unemployment declined almost every year in Roosevelt's first two terms. This sounds great. Mr. Sowell's source said this decline was very slow and never dropped below 20 percent. This does not sound so great. I have a proposal. I will try to get a copy of this email to Mr. Sowell as well. If either of you can produce a graph of unemployment numbers from just beyond the start of the great Depression until recent times based on reliable sources, I will send you my prized Sammy Sosa bobblehead. If you both respond, we will have to talk. I will miss Sammy if either of you do respond. I assume you can get my email through this web site. I will make another offer as well. One thing I have learned is that no matter how crazy this life seems, I believe it is a blessing and we should enjoy it. As you both are obviously intelligent people I will treat each of you to dinner in our award winning downtown area if you are ever anywhere near Greenville, SC. This meal will include alcoholic beverages as I will make the assumption that those who write about our illustrious leaders in Washington do need a stiff drink every once in a while. I believe both diners would be very interesting and certainly worth the investment. If you both happen to be in town at the same time we will have to talk, as that threesome at the dinner table might be too interesting. Calvin