Competence And Inflation November 22, 2021November 21, 2021 Thanks for your feedback on my “optimism,” some of which I summarized Saturday, in case you missed it, and more of which I hope to share soon. In the meantime: Paul London in The Hill: Republican leaders during the Great Depression opposed all the key Democratic programs that still help ordinary people like Social Security, unemployment insurance, government employment programs, investments in dams and public works, efforts to bolster farm prices and a minimum wage. They opposed these programs on the grounds that they would be inflationary, run up the debt, and be socialistic, the same arguments they use against Biden’s programs today. The Consumer Price Index had fallen more 30 percent from 1929 to 1933 and unemployment stood at 25 percent but Republican saw inflation around the corner because they understood that the wealthy and corporations would have to pay workers more if joblessness dropped and people had a safety net to fall back on. . . . He notes that aggregate GDP over the next 10 years will total around $300 trillion, upon which Build Back Better’s 1.8. trillion 10-year investment — largely or entirely paid for by taxes on corporations and those making more than $400,000 a year — will have all but zero inflationary impact. As described here, Mitch Landrieu is a great hire to oversee $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. Competence restored! (And a question for those who, the story reports, were upset Landrieu removed a statue of Robert E. Lee — who fought the United States Army to preserve the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of his fellow human beings. Do they think the Russians were wrong to remove statues of Stalin? Or the Germans, to remove statues of their former leader? Is it really that much different?) Have a great week!