I love the photos on your blog, so much in fact that I would like to use one as an illustration in a short story I have written. Would this be OK?

Thanks Vicki

[...] Rationing Cards – A Pictorial Journey Down Nostalgia Lane [...]

[...] Rationing Cards – A Pictorial Journey Down Nostalgia Lane – How jillions of resourceful Americans kept it logical during World War II. [...]

[...] Rationing Cards – A Pictorial Journey Down Nostalgia Lane – How millions of resourceful Americans kept it rational during World War II. [...]

Before you start making assumption based off facts, you should definitely check your facts first. FDR never prolonged any recessions – he inherited the depression from the previous president Hoover. Check out these charts showing industrial production and GDP from that era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1930Industry.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gdp20-40.jpg

At the end of the day FDR saved capitalism in US and did not allow fascism to come to the US. If govt’s do not increase spending during recessions and provide tax breaks then recessions could definitely turn into depressions.

As for rationing I have lived in times of rationing and could tell you its no fun. I think that most people in US need to get some “credit rationing” since so many people tend to spend more than what they earn

I’ve got an awesome reprint of a guide to running a household written in 1947 and says that you should be careful not to use to many points goods (luxury purchases) when you invite people over for dinner as you may make them feel awkward.

The whole New Deal stuffed dynamite in the cracks of American economy, it extended the Great Depression and all that in the name of recovery.

The reason why politicians and businessmen wanted to “overthrow” FDR because of his own dictatorship, it was no different what they had planned for America, except merely for a change of hands.

Do you realize why people end up in debt-cycle, why our economy has so much massive debt?

Because our beliefs in faulty Economics. Keynesian economics suggest that in case of a recession people must merely spend more to get out of it.

The problem is lets say in a really simple scenario there is a wheat producer, a rice producer and a gold producer.
The rice producer exchanges rice with gold coins of gold producer and then exchanges gold coins for wheat of wheat producer, and he also does the same.

Now there is a drought one season, there is less production of rice, and wheat, of course the farmers would clench to their own produce, the economy is said to be in recession, but then the gold miner tells them “Hey guys you know why economy is in recession, because you guys are not spending enough and saving more, here, take these few extra gold coins and spend them, if you run out of it, and you still need more I will give you more, just spend and consume”.

And so the faulty cycle of getting out of a recession by creditory spending, this is the reason why one credit card company gives money to you to pay for another credit card company, because govt asks them to do so, and therefore the debt trap.

The fascist policies of FDR, expanding a recession which could have recovered on its own into a depression which went on for 10 years. The reason people were asked not to produce more was based on the fact that depression occurred because of overproduction, and people ran out of purchasing power to buy(or saved too much).

Saving never harms anyone, you may miss out on the great boom of the economy but if you start spending like crazy you will be stuck in debt-cycle forever.

Fascinating really how the parallels of history slip into place. Thanks for the link.

You know what would be an amazing thing? If you could make a post about Fascism which went in time of FDR, and how it could come again.

I heard that back in those days Govt squad roamed around the town to see if any lights were on, it was outlawed to work after night, and if you were found working, then you were thrown in Jail.