A New Deal Today

October 21, 2008

Article for the column GREEN LIGHT (Manila Standard Today, October 20, 2008)

 

A New Deal Today

 

By Rene F. Concepcion

 

Call me geeky, but my comic book collection before Daredevil and Spider-man were those bookstore-published comic books on Philippine national heroes.  I liked the stories of Bonifacio and Lapu-Lapu the most, plus I was particularly fond of the Jose Rizal series that included the travels of Rizal and the loves of Rizal.  My major, to no one’s surprise, was history.

 

My college thesis dealt with the two world wars.  But the historic event foremost in everyone’s mind nowadays happened between WWI and WWII.  This was the period when millions of people lost their jobs and their homes, billions of wealth disappeared, thousands of banks closed, human dignity was at an all-time low, leading to the rise of evil ideologues, which then led to worse and unthinkable human suffering. The era was called The Great Depression, and if history teaches important lessons, this depression should never happen again.

 

Last year, I attended a finance lecture where the guest speaker assured the class that history has indeed been studied, that financial institutions have safeguarded the world economy against severe crisis.  Basically, he was saying that finance guys are smart, there’s nothing to fear, computations are under control.  One year later, doesn’t it feel like no one guarded the safe from the smart guys?

 

Call me Mr. Bean when it comes to bean counting, but despite my bumbling around numbers (finance wizards have bumbled worse, right?) history has hopefully provided enough information to combat economic woes. 

Here is a beautiful quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt taken from his “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” speech during his first United States presidential inauguration in 1932, three years after the stock market crashed: 

The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit…Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Roosevelt’s policies, called The New Deal, had the U.S. government more directly involved in economic stimulation – by creating jobs through government projects despite deficits, regulating banks and capital markets, and protecting the poor through socialized government support.  They sound oh so familiar lately, don’t they?  The irony is that today’s Republican leadership, oh so against big government, is hammering a very interventionist new deal to quickly cut the current economic downfall.  They believe that their stimulus package will work.  Guess what, FDR’s New Deal didn’t end the depression, World War II did.  But there is nothing in the words and ideas of good men that the sacrifice of even one life is worth the restoration of tranquility, unless the life that is sacrificed is their own. 

Yet thanks to today’s Republican leadership, there is still war – although history has shown there has never been true lasting world peace.  Human instinct somehow reverts to conflict, it’s a survival of the fittest mode, a value system of “I deserve my property because I worked and earned to keep my land and fence myself in.“  No trespassing once I’ve grabbed the land from you! 

It’s sad to think that all the consumption and consequent credit crunch could’ve been caused by the comfortability of an air-conditioned Camry or Cadillac, or the perceived power of a Prada purse.  Or maybe too many world leaders are still so easily willing to sacrifice the lives of others except themselves.

The bright side is that history is more replete with good news and progress.  It can be summed up with these words, again from Roosevelt:  “Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for.  Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it.  Plenty is at our doorstep.”

Professor Rene F. Concepcion is a full-time faculty member at the De La Salle University Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business where he teaches Sports and Recreation Management and Culture and Arts Management.  He is currently on his one-year sabbatical, but he continues to be the head coach of the DLSU varsity swimming team.  Comments can be sent to his email concepcionr@dlsu.edu.ph