Lengthening the Recession

If we ignore the lessons of history, then we will be
condemned to repeat the mistakes.
Some mistakes made by Hoover and FDR were trying to keep
wages high and being protectionist. Obama and the
Democrats are doing exactly that. They raised the
minimum wage earlier this year. IBD today had several
examples today of protectionist policies.
It should be obvious that, if you have 5 employees and
$100,000 available for wages, and if wages increase to
$120,000, then you can no longer afford 5 employees!
Unemployment has exceeded the expected 8% and is 9.7%
and still going up. It averaged about 18% under FDR.
The US may have violated treaties like WTO and NAFTE
with the administration's protectionist policies.
Businesses are reluctant to rehire workers or expand
since they have been branded "greedy" and threatened
with increased taxes, assessments and surcharges,
mandatory benefits, unionization, pay control,VAT, etc.