Serve Yourself and Save- Depression, Recession, and Donald Trump.
The election of Donald Trump is the clearest expression so far of the resurgence of nationalism across advanced economies. Initially at least, many thought that his bark would prove worse than his bite, and six months in, it's still tough to say. It would be foolish, however, to rule out the possibility that he earnestly attempts some of his more radical proposals at a later stage. In any case, Trump’s victory has killed off hopes of further trade globalisation. With populism rising elsewhere, it may herald a new era of isolationism. We've heard the slogan "America First" before. When thinking of our nation in its pre- FDR 1920's phase, one can easily see that Trump would have found himself at home there. The old system of graft, corruption, and big bosses is exactly what he's trying to bring us back to. Huey Long, Nucky Johnson, and Frank Hague would have all had Cabinet posts. The trouble with this, is that when you allow a few to run rampant eating off the table of the many, they tend to behave like locusts and leave nothing left. The Great Depression was partly caused by the great inequality between the rich who accounted for a third of all wealth and the poor who had no savings at all. As the economy worsened many lost their fortunes, and some members of high society were forced to curb their extravagant lifestyles. The period following the first World War was called the Roaring Twenties. Americans were doing good. Advances in technology and organization led to increased efficiency at home and at work. This allowed the individual worker more leisure time to enjoy cultural and social pursuits such as jazz music and the occasional film, and even the occasional speakeasy. But the good times came to a crashing halt on October 29, 1929, a day history remembers as Black Friday. On this cataclysmic day, the entire stock market crashed. Within a year the political landscape had dissolved. 5,000 banks collapsed. Six million workers lost their jobs. By 1933 a full quarter of the workforce was unemployed. It was a terrible time for the country, and it was even worse in other parts of the world. In Germany, even aristocratic Prussians of the Junker class were known to pick cigarette butts out of the gutter for tobacco. II. Serve Yourself and Save! One of many new concepts introduced at this time was the concept of supermarkets. A man whose obnoxious and flamboyant son overshadowed him in later years was their pioneer. Fred Trump built Trump Market in Woodhaven, in the middle of the Depression and advertised, ''Serve Yourself and Save!'' It was an instant hit. Fred was doing his best to carry along with the family tradition of thriving in the midst of total misery. His father Friedrich had made a fortune, running brothels on the Klondike back in the Gold Rush days in the 1890's. The Trump family slogan is clearly a value still held dear. For the vast majority the 1930s was a time of misery. But for many American dynastic families, the upheaval of the ages promised nothing but opportunity, for those strong and ruthless enough to take what they would and build with it. Families like this are always the same, in the first generation; the capitalist is the ultimate meat- eater. Their tendency is to shamelessly grab for every last thing they can get and to take it as far as they can. The second generation tends to be much like the first, but with a more refined style and a clearer agenda. It's usually in the third generation that you start to see these sorts of internicene familial rivalries form, bringing us back to the time of Rome's decline and fall. And by the fourth generation you've got monsters. Coming back to the present era's tale of woe, we are seeing all the signs of degeneration, in the form of our 45th President. We replaced the youngest, smartest, best loved President in America's history with a decrepit old drunkard who owes most of his fortune to the ruler of the country he sold out to, Russia. His ratings took a bounce this week, because a Republican won in a race for control of a deep- Southern district that Republicans have owned for 40 years. He was able to gloat over the House Republicans blocking the new sanctions on Russia; a clear case of quid pro quo with the master he serves. And the woman being blamed for it all, Nancy Pelosi, is a woman who has given her entire life in the service of the Democratic Party, and its liberal values in America. She deserves better than this. Going forward, it's safe to say that most of us have gotten used to living in trenches. We have dug our foxholes deeply and well, and we are waiting for our chance to counterattack. The old tiger, Alfred Joffre of France, effected the Miracle on the Marne in just this way. He perceived the indecision in the ranks of his enemy and he ordered his men to hit back just in time to halt the Germans in their tracks. Those same tracks are where the entirety of World War One took place. The fields of Idaho and Nebraska are just as good a place to dig trenches as the fields of Flanders and Normandy, and it's a good thing, too, because it's clear we will be down here for a while. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html?mcubz=0 http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/1930s-high-society/ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chilling-ways-the-global-economy-echoes-1930s-great-depression-era-2016-02-19 https://www.capitaleconomics.com/publications/global-economics/global-economics-focus/world-trade-in-the-trump-era/
