Bear with me here, I want to re-run one more piece because I think that it is extremely important to consider at this point.

I have a 52 page booklet which remains on my desk top and one that I have read many times from cover to cover. The title is “The Chief Cause of This and Other Depressions.” The author is Leonard P. Ayres, Vice President of the Cleveland Trust Company.

Mr. Ayres wrote the booklet at the request of Josiah W. Bailey, Senator, North Carolina.

The read is nothing less than astounding, the perspective nothing less than amazing. I won’t bore you with the base content, as only deranged people like me enjoy the nuts and bolts of economics. I will however give you Mr. Ayres synopsis which states that certain guidelines should be adhered to should the U.S. choose to avoid another state of depression.

Operating in a stable and predicable environment is the key to our economic woes. As Mr. Ayres so well stated, “That kind of fundamental stability is the product of the drab and un-dramatic exercise of national integrity and self-restraint.” In other words, we have already failed the first principal.

Following are the points that Mr. Ayers suggests would keep our economy on an even keel. He begins, “It involves persistent adherence to at least seven national policies.”

1. Peace, and the enduring prospect of peace.

2. A sound money in which both our citizens and those of other countries have full confidence.

3. Balanced national budgets.

4. A sound banking system, independent of political influence.

5. The limitation of bank credit to loans fully justified by the demonstrated earning power of the assets on which the loans are based.

6. The restriction of speculation financed by credit.

7. Such negative regulation of business operations as experience may have proved necessary to prevent abuses, dishonest competition, and exploitation, but with a minimum of positive regulation designed to control wage and price competition, or to favor special group interest.

Let’s grade our federal politicians on adherence to these policies. It seems that they have scored an F-, getting none right and creating the exact opposites.

What do you think of Mr. Ayres advice? Seems like he knows what he is talking about to me. It also seems that we wouldn’t be in this terrible predicament if we had followed his guidelines.

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