I love satire.
I wanted to introduce readers to the Jon Stewart of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Will Rogers. Click here for more bio info. He followed in the footsteps of Mark Twain with political satire.
Will Rogers had a newspaper column during the 1920-30’s, read widely in the nation. He also toured on regular public appearances, did a few movies, appeared in The Ziefield Follies in New York City.
Here are a couple of excerpts, take note of the dates (He was from Oklahoma, a cowboy, so his down-to-earth speech is reflected in the writing):
January 10, 1926:
Now, when I tell you that if I was running the Government, there would be No lowering of Taxes, you know now a comedian is crazy.
President Coolidge says that we are approaching an era of prosperity. Everybody generally admits that we are better off than we ever were in our lives, yet we owe a National debt of almost 30 Billions of dollars.
We owe more money than any Nation in the World, and WE ARE LOWERING TAXES. When is the time to pay off debt if it is not when you are doing well? All Government statistics say that 70 percent of every dollar paid in the way of taxes goes to just the keeping up our interest and a little dab of amortization of our National Debts. In other words, if we didn’t owe anything our taxes would be less than one third what they are today……
Now here is what I can’t savy. Why is it that one of us, in fact all of us, will work and save, and stint all our lives. For what? Why to leave something to our children. When we die we want everything we have left clear and unencumbered. We will break our necks to leave them without a single debt. In fact we won’t die if we can help it till we get out of debt for their sake. Now that is what we will do as individuals, BUT, when it comes to COLLECTIVELY, why it looks like we will break our neck to see HOW MUCH we can leave them owing.
June 30, 1930 (from a public appearance in Minneapolis):
We are a good-natured bunch of saps in this country.
When the president is wrong, we charge it to inexperience.
When the tariff is wrong we laugh it off.
When Congress is wrong we charge it to habit.
When the Senate is right, we declare a national holiday.
When the market drops 50 points, we are supposed not to know it’s manipulation.
When a bank fails we let the guy go start another one……
Everything is cock-eyed, so what’s the use kidding ourselves.
September 24, 1930 (public appearance in Beverly Hills):
We never will have any prosperity that is free from speculation till we pass a law that every time a broker or person sell something, he has got to have it sitting there in a bucket, or bag, or a jug, or a cage, or a rat trap or something. We are continually buying something that we never get from a man that never had it.
Eerie and ironic, isn’t it?
We have been here before. I am confident that our government will make the same mistakes as in the 1930’s. If only for the fact that they made the same bubble mistakes in the 1990’s as they did in the 1920’s.
This is a cycle. A 100-year cycle. Do not expect a recovery or a return to 2007 prosperity until the winter cycle is complete. In 1929, the stock market did not hit the same level until the 1950’s. The stock market number may go up, but the dollar is heading down long term. Protect your capital during this winter part of the cycle.
