Back to the Future

James Flanigan seems to have missed the critical analysis in his Sept. 28 column, “Strain on S&Ls;, FSLIC Recalls Another Era.”

He blames savings and loans for bad investments--spurred by Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp. insurance for depositors--during times of high inflation. While this is partly correct, Flanigan fails to note that the federal government caused the inflation that led to the devaluing of outstanding S&L; loans as well as an economic environment that is tenuous at best.

The pattern of his column is typical, however, of the last 70 years of U.S. history. Government causes a problem . . . people react to the problem by asking government to intervene . . . government causes more problems . . . people react . . . etc., while the taxpayers foot the bill, and the citizens of the United States give up their freedom. This spiral has led to the first generation of adults who must live at a standard lower than that of their parents. If Flanigan’s comparison of today’s economy with that of the 1920s is correct, he should remember that the Federal Reserve Board caused the Great Depression, and the Fed is the tool that the politicians will use to create a depression again.

Maybe Flanigan dreams of past governmental solutions to problems, but nightmares leave me weary.

JAMES A. BROWNFIELD

Pomona