The Obama recession?

Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:36 PM EDT

By The Rachel Maddow Show

God bless Detroit. Photo: Sweet Juniper

On the threat of a third economic depression, @Haddie Nuff writes:

[D]on't forget that in 1937, convinced that declining unemployment and production that was almost back to the levels of 1929, meant that the depression was whipped, FDR cut back on spending out of fear that additional spending would lead to inflation, among other things. The result was that the economy rapidly declined and slipped into what was called the 'Roosevelt recession'.

It wasn't until the massive spending required by the attack on Pearl Harbor that dragged us into WWII that the economy recovered. It took us until the 1980s to pay off that massive debt, but the resulting years were pretty good for the average American and overall the country did well.

Now is not the time to cut back on government spending, yet that's what going to happen. Krugman is also right; we're going to slip into a depression, if we're not there already. It seems we can learn nothing from the past.