A Chill Settles In, In Davos

Once a year, the titans of world industry, politics, economics, and intellectual thought, all meet in the mountains of Switzerland, in a place called Davos, to discuss world trade and economic and social development. As we all head towards an economic shambles, no other year at Davos could be deemed so important.

On election day, the world was enthralled with our new young President. But, now, in light of the economic crisis and his proposed handling of that crisis, they might be growing a little cold towards the new Obama administration. While not as cold as the Alps surrounding Davos, there appears to be quite a lot of reservation about the new administration's trends toward protectionism and towards steep and long-term indebtedness as a result of the Obama-proposed stimulus package (See Full Story).

Clearly, I expressed a similar concern in my recent blog entry of January 25th titled: "A New Era Of Trade Wars Looms." (See Full Blog Entry) History has shown us that the protectionism of the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 drove this country into retaliatory trade barriers and into the resulting prolongation of the economic oblivion that we call the Great Depression. With Obama and the Democrats apparently ready to retry that protectionist stupidity, you've really got to wonder. Did this former Clinton economic team, the one that Obama recently hired, read any of the books regarding the Great Depression? Or, did they just eat them? Along with potentially making the mistakes of JFK and Jimmy Carter, is the President now trying to be our new Herbert Hoover with trade barriers?

A near half-century before Christ was born, Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great Roman philosopher, once said: "History is indeed the witness of the times, the light of truth."

Please, Mr. Obama. Aren't you able to see that light?