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Liberal Conceit And The Havoc It Has Wrought On Our Nation
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Topic Started: Oct 21 2011, 06:29 PM (1,455 Views)
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tomdrobin
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Oct 28 2011, 11:31 PM
Post #51
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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After just eight months in office, on October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, fueling a growing depression that became the most severe economic crisis the United States had ever known, and second only to the Civil War as the greatest domestic crisis in the nation's history.
Although Herbert Hoover has been blamed for the stock market crash, he, in fact, warned President Coolidge in 1925 about the dangers of excessive stock market speculation. He again expressed concern while running for president in 1928.
After the crash, Herbert Hoover ordered federal departments to speed up construction projects, cut $160 million in taxes, and doubled the amount spent on public works. By 1933, one-fourth of the nation's workers were unemployed. In addition to the high unemployment, the American economy experienced slow economic growth and financial instability. Hoover was criticized for his refusal to authorize large-scale relief programs that might have alleviated the nation's suffering and hunger, his unwillingness to use a significant amount of federal dollars to stimulate the nation's economy, and his failure to recognize the all-encompassing nature of the Great Depression. A president rejected
Perhaps the most politically damaging event of Hoover's presidency was the Bonus March, staged by World War I veterans in 1932. Several years earlier, Congress had passed the Soldiers' Bonus Act, which granted veterans Adjusted Compensation Certificates, payable in 1945. In May 1932, the "Bonus Army" converged on the capitol to urge early redemption for the certificates.
More than 17,000 desperate veterans gathered in Washington to force passage of the bill. Herbert Hoover had already made generous provisions for veterans and felt that the bill was a huge expense that wouldn't help the country's most needy. In July, the Bonus Bill was defeated in the Senate, although the government offered to pay the fare home for each veteran.
Thousands accepted the offer, but thousands more remained encamped across the Potomac from central Washington in a ramshackle shantytown, dubbed "Hooverville." Although the Bonus Army had behaved remarkably peacefully, the police were called in to evict the veterans. A riot broke out and Hoover ordered that federal troops be dispatched to contain the veterans. The commanding general, Douglas MacArthur, did much more than "contain", however, and ordered the use of tear gas, tanks, and bayonets, and commanded soldiers to set fire to the veterans' shacks. Several veterans and even an infant were killed in the chaos. Herbert Hoover never publicly criticized the general for his excessive conduct, and thus the American people blamed the president as well as MacArthur.
Herbert Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Election of 1932. Only six of the 48 states voted for Hoover. Hoover and Roosevelt did not get along. Hoover strongly opposed Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, in which the federal government assumed responsibility for the welfare of the nation by maintaining a high level of economic activity - providing for the unemployed and elderly, prohibiting anti-social business practices, protecting natural resources, and developing the Tennessee Valley and other largely undeveloped regions. Roosevelt never consulted Hoover, nor did he involve him in government in any way during his presidential term.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1580.html
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Chris
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Oct 28 2011, 11:48 PM
Post #52
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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What you're doing by that citation, Tom, is reporting political disagreements. As cited in my previous post, FDR's staff acknowledged the New Deal started with Hoover. And FDR decried Hoover's New Deal policies to get elected, but then turned around in office to increase them. It makes political sense Hoover and FDR would disagree like that, but their economic policies followed on each other as Obama's follows on Bush's.
I'm curious why you highlight "cut $160 million in taxes" but not "ordered federal departments to speed up construction projects" before it or after it "and doubled the amount spent on public works." What you fail to highlight is the beginning of New Deal programs.
Edited by Chris, Oct 28 2011, 11:49 PM.
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tomdrobin
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Oct 29 2011, 12:01 AM
Post #53
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History does repeat itself. Hoover cut taxes, Bush cut taxes and Obama compromised with the Rep.'s and cut taxes. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. Massive government spending on the new deal and WWII, and raising taxes to pay for it worked. And, started us back on the road to prosperity. Then Reagen said, "Government is the Problem", and started us back down that same road of deregulation, speculation and here we go again.
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Chris
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Oct 29 2011, 12:18 AM
Post #54
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- tomdrobin
- Oct 29 2011, 12:01 AM
History does repeat itself. Hoover cut taxes, Bush cut taxes and Obama compromised with the Rep.'s and cut taxes. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. Massive government spending on the new deal and WWII, and raising taxes to pay for it worked. And, started us back on the road to prosperity. Then Reagen said, "Government is the Problem", and started us back down that same road of deregulation, speculation and here we go again.
And instead of presenting an argument, Tom, you're merely repeating yourself, repeating myths even your posts here have disproved.
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