New Deal hampered recovery by causing businessmen to fear policy changes that might render their investments unprofitable.)
Insull s Monstrosity
The 1935 Revenue Act wasn t the only measure that had businessmen and investors shuddering that August. Less than a week after it became law, FDR signed the still-more controversial Public Utility Holding Company Act, granting the SEC the power to break up the nation s utility holding companies.
On the eve of the Depression, Paul Mahoney explains, most U.S. electric and gas companies were directly controlled by trusts or holding companies. Groups of smaller utility holding companies were in turn controlled by a smaller number of larger holding companies, and so on for several layers. Three gigantic holding companies at the apex of this holding company pyramid ultimately controlled more than 80 percent of the nation s power companies.
Some politicians promise an El Dorado if you vote them into power. Others tell stories, some true and some not so, to get the voters to believe them. In modern times, we ve seen how charismatic leaders cast their spell on the electorate and lead them to an unknown world as did the Pied Piper of Hamelin. One can relate to these fables by looking at the recent history of the United Kingdom.
On January 30, 2020, the UK left the EU after 45 years, having been influenced by the leaders of the Leave movement, including the current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Previously, on June 23, 2016, the voters in the UK decided in a referendum to leave the EU. Those who wanted to leave believed that the benefits of belonging to the unified monetary body no longer outweighed the costs of free movement of immigration. The vote was 17.4 million in favour of leaving versus 15.1 million who voted to remain. After UK officially left EU on January 31, 2020, both sides agreed to keep many thi