SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Since the current recession is compared to the Great Depression, it's natural we'd be watching for results today similar to the results created by that older decade-long crisis. The Depression not only stimulated socialistic action and programs around the world, it also brought Roosevelt's New Deal with its hiring programs for the unemployed and for artists.^p

^pIn the US, the feds spent plenty on infrastructure projects -- covering buildings and programs more significant to American culture than in any other period. The Depression created funding for artists and writers who influenced the shape and direction of American culture for years to come.^p

^pThat economic crisis also created new programs and organizations to aid farmers and manufacturers, scholars and researchers, scientists and exporters. In short, the Depression, while it wreaked havoc in both boardrooms and in the buying power of ordinary families, lead to a myriad of social and economic innovations.^p

^pIt stimulated new concepts and experimentation, some of which worked and some which didn't, but at least it did not leave the world wallowing in confusion and fear.^p

^pIt had its heavy costs and negatives -- the rise of the Nazis and fascists, the Second World War, riots against immigrants and minorities, and it stimulated a neo-colonialism on top the old imperial system.^p

^pSo why if the present recession is so much like the Great Depression are we seeing virtually no creative and progressive thinking or experimentation?^p

^pWhat we are getting from our leaders and thinkers are lame attempts to prop up the old order, the very order that generated the crash.^p

^pBanks and financial institutions in the States are being re-inflated, the institutions and their managers who should be on trial for the mismanagement and runaway greed are getting bonuses again. ^pIt's as if Canada is being managed by ostriches -- or extortionists.^p

^pWe expect much more than what we are getting from our federal and provincial governments. And please don't claim that a new culvert here and an addition to an arena over there constitutes Ôstimulus.Õ^p

^pWhat we are getting is business as usual and only those measures which will keep the old order on life support.^p

^pNor is it right to say the recession is almost over.^p

^pIf it's almost over, it can't have been as serious as the Great Depression. But it is that serious. Our fourteen largest forestry producers lost $480 million-in the first quarter of this year alone. Whole towns are empty. Government response, I guess it was a response, has been unimaginative and ineffective. Retraining, or more contracts for consultants, won't cut it.^p

^pHere's a suggested local example of an aggressive approach: the feds set up a wheat board-like agency for forest products, managed by producers.^p

^pThe feds lend or co-sign for loans to the agency to buy up wood products at competitive prices (preventing a dash for government money); the wood is stockpiled where it is manufactured; this wood is slowly released into the marketplace, as the market will bear. This prevents a glut, and the cost contains a mark-up to cover interest and the operation of the wood agency.^p

^pResult: mills and forestry workers are back at work; wood is produced steadily with no glut. There's no deficit on any side. The Pontiac region in Quebec is back to work.

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Copyright © 2009 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/08.09