re: What are some of the worst mistakes in history?

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The fact we failed to realize that fact was a failure on our part. We should have realized once the embargo was in place war was only a matter of when, not if. We were right in our decision to try and thwart Japan, we were just wrong in anticipating their reaction.

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fair enough, jk, I'm still not convinced that it was as simple as that, there were a lot of people from more than one country that wanted us in that war, probably more than a few in DC, more than that in London, some of the provocations that would appear to be logical things to do, might have been strategic moves to induce the desired and achieved result

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.the whole idea of capping someone because they disrespected you wasn't invented by black people.

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but they're the first ones to hold a nine like that

Obama. Will be hard to top that one.

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but they're the first ones to hold a nine like that

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You know why the do?











Because they take it out of the box that way.

Teddy Roosevelt failing to support Korean Emperor in the early 1900's encouraged Japanese aggression in the region and eventual occupation. This eventually lead to the Japanese version of the Monroe Doctine called the East Asia Co-prosperity sphere. Passive allowance of Japanese political and military domination of the region CAUSED world war II in the Pacific.

And we put that assholes face on Rushmore.

Dont get me started on the attrocities in the Philippines that occurred at the same time with William Howard Taft as Gov of the Philippines. Thousands died and we pretty much invented water boarding. Heavily used there.

Roosevelt believed heavily in manifest destiny and Aryan race rule. Pretty common at the time, but Roosevelt botched Asia in a way that cost the United States, its allies, the Japanese and all the local populations MILLIONS of lives.

frick that guy.

How much did France sell Louisiana to us for again?

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Neville Chamberlain and everyone who tries to appease and buys short term peace at the cost of long term misery.

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And how do you know when it's "appeasing" versus rational diplomacy and negotiation?

What about when Britain, France, and Italy carved up Europe and the world in such a way in Paris in 1919 that Germany and others were to be intentionally and permanently subjugated to the national interests of the winning powers? Surely that didn't have anything to do with it, it was that Neville Chamberlain was not aggressive enough in perpetuating this policy of British hegemony. The Germans were supposed to just accept poverty and international servitude into perpetuity.

Perhaps the real problem with Neville Chamberlain was that he was bullied into giving the Poles a war guarantee and tied Britain's foreign policy to the Polish government and their complete unwillingness to resolve border and ethnic disputes that had been created as a result of the Versailles Treaty. But no, that would require some critical thinking and divergence from the narrative that Britain and France were completely innocent for the outbreak of the Second World War and acted in something other than purely national interests.

The Federal Reserve Bank basically stood by and did nothing while midwest banks collapsed, triggering the Great Depression. They watched this happen for two straight years, never once stepping to prop up a failing bank.

The worst thing is, this was exactly the situation the Federal Reserve Bank was created to stop. They were supposed to be "The Lender of Last Resort".

Many economists now believe that even after the the stock market crash on Black Tuesday, action by the Federal Reserve Bank would not only have prevented the worst of the Great Depression, but led to a recovery in only two years.

Imagine a world where the Great Depression either didn't happen or was quickly over. There would have been no Facsism, a lot less support for Communism, and maybe no World War Two.

On a side note, John Steinbeck would never have written The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men. Harper Lee would never have written To Kill a Mockingbird . Margaret Atwood would not have authored The Blind Assassin.

Movies such as The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Bound for Glory, Emperor of the North Pole, Ironweed, Hard Times, Paper Moon, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, and Honkytonk Man would never have been made.

Famous criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ma Barker, and Alvin Karpis may never have been heard of.

And of course, Franklin Delano Roosevelt may have never been elected President.

Imagine a world where the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, and the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism, never ended. The end of the Roaring Twenties was particularly hard on women. Women didn't regain the social and sexual freedom they enjoyed in the twenties until the seventies.

We'll never know what kind of world we could be living in today, had The Federal Reserve Bank done it's job. Would it have been better than the one we have now?

I'm almost sure it would have been.

Delta Tau Chi and double-secret probation.