While reading various articles recently regarding the weakening economy, housing crisis, credit crunch and ongoing wars, it came to me that we are entering a point of Déjà vu all over again.

I refer back to the bad old days of the 60s and early 70s. We had a war going on in Asia. There were riots in the inner cities that were causing the destruction of peoples’ homes and businesses. Energy had begun or was already at all-time highs, with the establishment of OPEC, and Detroit had nothing but gas-guzzlers to offer.

The Government solution to the dual problem of Riots and Wars was known as the Guns and Butter Policy of the Johnson Administration. Numerous reforms were instituted in the name of racial equality, not a bad thing. But these programs were not funded directly by the taxpayers, or so it seemed at the time. Rather than raise taxes and undo the Kennedy tax cuts, the Treasury created money via the printing press. This worked well for a while until people realized that the money wasn’t really worth as much as before. This was later exacerbated by Wage and Price controls that turned into run-away inflation of the 70s.

The similarities are not exactly identical, but close enough to be scary. Like dragnet, the story is true but the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

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Myron Shlapak

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