In 1945 at the end of WWII England’s economy was going into a tailspin. Soldiers were returning home without jobs, unemployment was rising and shortages of basic commodities were everywhere. So the British electorate threw out Winston Churchill and the Conservatives and elected Clement Attlee. England for the next 25 years tried to solve it economic problems with a combination of socialist redistribution and centralized planning. They implemented free nationalized health care, the government owned the railroads and the steel companies and national economic policy was focused on saving jobs. The government tried to make life fair for everyone. It didn’t work. The economy stagnated and millions of people fled to places like Canada, Australia and the USA where there were more opportunities.
In 1979 Margaret Thacher was elected and she changed the countries direction. She broke the coal union and privatized industries. She let capitalism happen. There were winners and losers and England boomed again.
Unfortunately the “stimulus” bill that is about to be passed by the Congress is attempting to solve our problems in the same way that Clement Attlee tried to solve England’s problems in 1945. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. I’m preparing for a couple of decades of a bad economy.