Worst. Recovery. Ever.

[orygunluvr]

When there was little to no infrastructure, and there were no minimum wage laws or child labor laws, there were land barons and railroad barons who took advantage of cheap labor and the lack of infrastructure to make money.

However, few, if any, of the supporting circumstances exist today. So the "ready availability of resources and free enterprise" that you claim made this work may be true... when you consider foreign immigrants legally working for a pittance of a pittance as one of those resources, when you consider the vast tracts of undeveloped land as resources, when you consider the lack of environmental oversight as part of free enterprise... and so on.

Meanwhile, we here in the present are looking for better solutions.

What about all those shovel ready jobs?

[csrowan]

The existence or non-existence of shovel-ready jobs has nothing to do with what Willie, Sidewinder, or I said.

Your constant misinterpretation of or purposeful attempts to derail otherwise rational discussion are getting tiresome.

[Sidewinder]

Meanwhile, we here in the present are looking for better solutions.

Just be patient. SEIU has proclaimed that "Workers of the World, Arise" isn't just a slogan anymore.

My question was: Can government create prosperity? If so, how?

[PonderThis]

Good infrastructure, just as one example.
Universal education for another.
Making sure the people have adequate health care and nutrition for another.
Not addressing the economic chicanery that seems to help too.

[Sidewinder]

Good infrastructure, just as one example.
Universal education for another.
Making sure the people have adequate health care and nutrition for another.
Not addressing the economic chicanery that seems to help too.

Let Daddy fix it. In your dreams.

The economic success of this country was made without universal education - without even formal system of public education. Government providing health care and nutrition has never been a characteristic of a successful economy. These are simply sound good buzz words. It really sounds like that failed formula: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

[bbqboy]

only to you.

[csrowan]

Good infrastructure, just as one example.
Universal education for another.
Making sure the people have adequate health care and nutrition for another.
Not addressing the economic chicanery that seems to help too.

Let Daddy fix it. In your dreams.

The economic success of this country was made without universal education - without even formal system of public education. Government providing health care and nutrition has never been a characteristic of a successful economy. These are simply sound good buzz words. It really sounds like that failed formula: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

Past history, which occurred under greatly different circumstances, does not necessarily reflect current realities. Slave labor used to be a characteristic of our successful economy. But trying to suggest that it plays the same part now is stupid, unless one is referring to jobs that purposefully pay such a low wage that the rest of us have to supplement it with welfare. And even then, it's not anything resembling a close similarity.

[Willie Krash]

Good infrastructure, just as one example.
Universal education for another.
Making sure the people have adequate health care and nutrition for another.
Not addressing the economic chicanery that seems to help too.

Let Daddy fix it. In your dreams.

The economic success of this country was made without universal education - without even formal system of public education. Government providing health care and nutrition has never been a characteristic of a successful economy. These are simply sound good buzz words. It really sounds like that failed formula: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

Past history, which occurred under greatly different circumstances, does not necessarily reflect current realities. Slave labor used to be a characteristic of our successful economy. But trying to suggest that it plays the same part now is stupid, unless one is referring to jobs that purposefully pay such a low wage that the rest of us have to supplement it with welfare. And even then, it's not anything resembling a close similarity.

I would add a virgin resource rich continent to exploit and boy did we, well wasn't that how was it done in the good ole days. That and a destroyed world after WWII and we were in the cats bird seat as the world hungered for goods and services. Do we need to bring up Bretton Woods again?
Even with this we knew we needed better. The GI bill and space programs to propel ourselves in new technology. This was gov't. OTOH if skinning buffalo's is the way to prosperity so be it. Ask people from China, Africa, Mexico, the Irish how we did it. They may ask what do you mean we?
BTW when you exhaust that resource you better have some infrastructure, if not you ain't got nothin. The Arabs figured out sell all their oil better result in more than sand.