Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Regions and Redistribution
Introduction and Overview
Yes, when - not if - when we get a chance, the Federal Government will assume
bold leadership in distress relief. For years Washington has alternated between
putting its head in the sand and saying there is no large number of destitute people
in our midst who need food and clothing, and then saying the States should take
careof them, if thereare. [...] I say thatwhile theprimary responsibility for
relief rests with localities now, as ever, yet the Federal Government has always
had a still and continuing responsibility for the broader public welfare. It will
soon fulfill that responsibility.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nomination Acceptance Speech, 1932
Now, if Spain were an American state rather than a European country, things
would not be so bad [ . . . ] Spain would be receiving a lot of automatic support in
the crisis: Florida's housing boom has gone bust, but Washington keeps sending
theSocialSecurityandMedicarechecks.[...]
Now what? A breakup of the euro is very nearly unthinkable, as a sheer matter
of practicality [ . . . ] So the only way out is forward: to make the euro work,
Europe needs to move much further toward political union, so that European
nations start to function more like American states.
Paul Krugman,
New York Times
,February14, 2010
Economic downturns challenge governments and institutions. The Great
Depression dramatically exposed the limitations of earlier approaches to social
and welfare issues in the United States. Roosevelt's 1932 pledge to strengthen
the role of federal government was a response to the failing paradigm, then
dominant in federations, that state and local governments should fend for
themselves. In striking parallelism, today's financial crisis presents a simi-
lar challenge to the European Union (EU). Krugman's plea for a stronger
Europe highlights the tensions of a monetary union without a coherent fis-
cal policy. The presidential candidate in the 1930s, like the economist today,
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