THE ROLE OF AMERICAN JURISTS IN SHAPING THE US GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL POLICY: FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO THE CRISIS OF GLOBALIZATION

Abstract

The article examines the historical concepts of American specialists regarding the development of the state and legal policy of the United States in the field of legal regulation of public finances. It has been proven that the beginning of such scientific research should be connected to the famous “Fireside Chats” of the USA President F.D. Roosevelt in which during the Great Depression this outstanding statesman explained to the American people the main directions of legal regulation of public finances. It was established that, on the order of the American government to overcome the consequences of the Great Depression, the corresponding scientific schools, started by J.M. Keynes (1883–1946), the leader of the conservative current of supporters of powerful legal regulation of financial relations by state authorities, and M. Friedman (1912–2006), who had to become the head of libertarians who believed that the state should not often interfere in the affairs of the Federal Reserve System. The scientific discussions of conservatives and libertarians on the peculiarities of the financial policy of the American government until overcoming the consequences of the global financial crisis in 2008 are analyzed. It is emphasized that such experience is necessary for solving similar problems in Ukraine. It’s known that Keynes launched a program to save the capitalist world from the collapse in the years of the “Great Depression”. The basis of the Keynesian theory of legislative regulation of financial resources became the postulate of the necessity of bringing the state to the economy. The economic principles of Keynes were the basis of the monetary policy of the USA right up to the Reaganomics in 1981. It should be pointed out that the representatives of the liberal science of financial and legal policy were ordinary officials, but they put their ideas into life. R. Hofstadter, doctor of law at Columbia University (1915–1970), who became the winner of the Pulitzer Prize three times, played a great role in this process. Hofstadter pointed out that the current state policy of the United States should be regulated by the ideas of the “fathers-founders“ of the United States as like as President George W. Washington and others. It seems that these days the American politics of the legal regulation of money system have come close to the crisis of the US financial system. M. Woodford, J. Bolleisen and other scholars say that the current crisis of the US financial system is the result of the recklessness of American bankers, supporters of the ultra-free financial market. It should be noted, that real view of the monetary policy of the US government, on the causes of the global financial crisis of 2008 was expressed by B. Bernanke. He was head the US Federal Reserve from the 2006 to the 2014. Bernanke voicing that the Federal Reserve System must not fight against “bubble blower”, but can simply focus on such standard goals, like a regular working day and a decrease in inflation in the country, which is the leading country of the civilized World. American elite is impressed that the specialists in the legal regulation of financial investments must know the specifics of the historical process of shaping financial policy. Unfortunately, the American concepts of legal regulation of public finances almost never studied in Ukraine. Fundamental studies of Ukrainian scientists from the financial policy of our country has few information on the financial policy of the world’s most advanced countries. So, it is obvious that the state financial and legal policy of the United States should inspire domestic researchers to create appropriate scientific research.