Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 292

 

Here are a few excerpts from a book I recently read, "Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius," by Sylvia Nasar.

The notion that man was a creature of his circumstance, and that those circumstances were not predetermined, immutable, or utterly impervious to human intervention is one of the most radical discoveries of all time. It called into question the existential truth that humanity was subject to the dictates of God and nature. It implied that, given new tools, humanity was ready to take charge of its own destiny. It called for cheer and activity rather than pessimism and resignation. Before 1870 economics was mostly about what you couldn’t do. After 1870, it was mostly about what you could do.

“The juxtaposition between rich and poor was rendered more striking by the exodus of the middle classes to the suburbs and, more significant in the minds of observers, by the universal assumption that London presaged the future of society.  Poverty was not, of course, new. But in the country, hunger, cold, disease, and ignorance appeared to be the work of nature. In the great capital of the world, misery seemed to be man-made, almost gratuitous. Wasn’t the means to relieve it at hand, actually visible in the form of elegant mansions, elaborate gowns, handsome carriages, and lavish entertainments?’

Again and again, the president hammered home his theme that the foundation for a lasting peace was not the defeat of gangster regimes alone but also rising living standards. Economic security was the supreme responsibility of democratic governments. He was determined not to repeat the mistakes made by the Allies after World War I that he believed had helped lead to the current war. Maintaining that the welfare state and individual liberty went hand in hand, he warned, “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” Roosevelt called on Congress to support postwar economic recovery at home and abroad. His major domestic proposal was for an “economic Bill of Rights”—namely, government guarantees of jobs, health care, and old age pensions.