Hooray for Warren G. Harding, the last president who embraced common sense economics! From Bill Bonner at bonnerandpartners.com:
“He who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.”
The quote comes from Ben Franklin. But it was recalled to us neither by America’s president nor Britain’s prime minister.
Instead, the Telegraph in London reported it from the mouth of Cheng Siwei, a “top member of the Communist hierarchy.”
What goes around comes around. The Anglo-Saxons have forgotten what makes a successful economy. The Chinese have remembered.
Long List of Disasters
History is nothing but a long list of disasters in chronological order.
Historians love calamity. And they reserve their highest accolades for those who cause them. The same is true in financial history. Those who make it big are those who make it worse.
It is safe to assume that no one working at the Federal Reserve or at the White House has a picture of Warren Gamaliel Harding over his desk.
Yet if American presidents were ranked on the basis of how well they faced up to financial disaster, Warren G. Harding might be somebody. His handsome face would be carved on Rushmore. His likeness would grace the $100 bill.
Harding was the last American president to deal honestly with a major financial crisis. Every president since has tried to scam his way out of it.
