More Jesse Jones

Every day I see more pompous Tory schmucks in Congress and the whore media bemoaning the socialization of the American economy, as if President Obama is the second coming of Vladimir Lenin. If you were to believe these people, you’d soon come to think that Obama was himself responsible for doubling the national debt these eight years past with tax give-aways and ill-conceived wars.

I am reading Jesse H. Jones’ book “Fifty Billion Dollars,” about how he bailed this country out of the Great Depression and financed World War Two as head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. I am holding a copy of the book that he autographed in 1951. Holy grail!

Today I would like to share a bit from his book that speaks, I think, to some of the obstructionist Republican talking heads that have been annoying the living shit out of me lately..

“During the depression many of the big boys suffered as well as the little ones.

“Their predicament and that of millions of other people may aptly be illustrated by a story told by my friend Will Rogers, the humorist. One day in the spring of 1934 Will told in his syndicated newspaper column of attending a dinner of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

“It is the caviar of big business,” he wrote. “Last time they met I happened to be in Washington and was the guest of Jesse Jones (head of the Reconstruction Finance) at their dinner. Now the whole constitution, by-laws and secret ritual of that Orchid Club is to ‘keep the government out of business.’ Well, that’s all right for every organization must have a purpose but here was the joke, they introduced all the big financiers, the head of this, that and the other. As each stood up Jesse would write on the back of the menu card just what he had loaned him from the RFC (I’ve got that menu card yet) yet they said ‘keep the government out of business.’ “