"Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis
"Empire of Debt" is a fascinating book that details the undoing of a variety of "empire" nations, including the great Roman Empire and the British Empire.  Published in 2005, the book is correctly predicting the current economic woes incurred as a result of an over reliance on debt.  (It states that the US economy is promoting our democratic way of life by borrowing money from the Communist Chinese.)

Most empires were brought down, not from external forces, but by the insatiable appetite of the government officials to continually develop new programs and spending policies that ultimately bankrupted their citizens.  

Rome conquered vast territories to supply their treasury, and keep their citizens happy.  But ultimately, the politicians continued to curry favor by offering even more government largess.  The breaking point came when the majority of citizens no longer had the incentive to work.  (Ironically, through our tax and spending policies, the US is quickly reaching the same breaking point.)
  
-----------------


The Wagner Act - Continuing the economic malaise.
    In 1935, FDR was befuddled by the continuing depression.  His "New Deal", crafted by socialist members of his cabinet, was doing nothing to deliver the US economy from the throes of the Great Depression.  (In fact, another decade of socialized experiments wouldn't do the trick, either).

    In desperation, the east coast liberals decided that a stonger union work force would help "spread the wealth around".  And so, the Wagner Act was passed.  The act, basically opened up union activities, to a point that even employee's free will for unionization was taken away. 

    Today's Wall Street Journal has an excellent piece on the devastating effects of the Wagner Act, entitled: Labor Unions Prolonged the Depression.

From the article:

As Amity Shlaes observed in her recent history of the Great Depression, "The Forgotten Man," within a few months after the Wagner Act was upheld, industrial production began to plummet and "the jobs started to disappear, with unemployment moving back to 1931 levels," even as the number of workers under union control was "growing astoundingly."

Given the reality of unions in the workplace, the law meant that efficiency and profitability were compromised, by forcing employers to equally reward their most productive and least productive employees. Therefore subsequent wage increases for some workers led to widespread job losses.


Obama has promised to implement the next version of the Wagner Act, by signing off on Card Check.  

Maybe Obama would consider taking a history class...........or reading a book.