Barack Obama compared his new Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, to Alexander Hamilton yesterday. That's funny, I've never heard that Alexander Hamilton didn't pay his taxes.
ha ha ha
Ok, I read--on what I think was a conservative blog--that Alexander Hamilton was a 'good ole boy' crony--totally in it for the elitest rich. Until recently, the only thing I knew about Alexander Hamilton was that he was a prominent early American and he was shot by Aaron Burr. But here is what I have read in my history book--written by a man contesting liberal historical claims. I quote ;
Ok, I read--on what I think was a conservative blog--that Alexander Hamilton was a 'good ole boy' crony--totally in it for the elitest rich. Until recently, the only thing I knew about Alexander Hamilton was that he was a prominent early American and he was shot by Aaron Burr. But here is what I have read in my history book--written by a man contesting liberal historical claims. I quote ;
"Hamilton was so suspicious of government that he thought the only way to keep it from spinning out of control was to tie it to the wealthy......'The only plan that can preserve the currency is one that will make it the immediate interest of the moneyed men to cooperate with the government.' Whether agreeing or not with his solutions, few could doubt that his reports constituted masterful assessments of the nation's economic condition."
The United States was in debt $102 million at the end of the revolution. It was bankrupt. Hamilton's challenge was to address all this debt (individual state debts, bonds, and Washington's IOUs to soldiers), establish credit and finance the nations upcoming expenses.
Hamilton's theory was that " A national debt, if not excessive, is a national blessing." He believed that owing people money bought some security--because debt is a lenders 'investment' in us and it's in their best interest to get a return on it. (So...if the debt does get 'excessive' and our lenders know we can never pay it back--what happens then?)
The United States was in debt $102 million at the end of the revolution. It was bankrupt. Hamilton's challenge was to address all this debt (individual state debts, bonds, and Washington's IOUs to soldiers), establish credit and finance the nations upcoming expenses.
Hamilton's theory was that " A national debt, if not excessive, is a national blessing." He believed that owing people money bought some security--because debt is a lenders 'investment' in us and it's in their best interest to get a return on it. (So...if the debt does get 'excessive' and our lenders know we can never pay it back--what happens then?)
"Hamilton had no illusions about the dangers inherent in big government. He had rightly understood that over the long term, prices did not lie. Monetary values reflect real value in short order. While the will of the people might swing wildly, depending on emotions, news coverage, propaganda or other factors, markets generally are constrained by reality, and he wanted to let that reality enforce its discipline on American finances. It worked; when Hamilton's plan took effect in 1791, U.S. debt per capita, in real dollars, stood at $197 million, but within 20 years it had plummeted to $49 million." That's three-quarters of the national debt in 20 years--which, according to this author, is pretty good.
It may be worth noting that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were bitter political rivals. They had different ideas on things. For instance, Thomas Jefferson wanted no national debt, whatsoever. Each generation had to pay off their own debt and shouldn't accrue more than they could pay off. Ironically, Jefferson accrued one of the largest debts up to date (at the time)in a single transaction when he acquired the Louisiana Purchase. Apparently, even for Thomas Jefferson, debt was sometimes justifiable.
Anyway, it is this authors opinion that like it or not Alexander Hamilton was the right man for the job at the right time and he got this nation off to a good economic start while paying down the nations debt.
Though I do pity him a little, maybe we should wait to see if Tim Geithner's policies can pay off three-quarters of the new multi-trillion dollar debt in 20 years before we compare him to Alexander Hamilton--who as far as we know--paid his taxes.
Here is a good visual for understand how much a trillion is;
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