September 16, 2008

Obama's gonna hammer John Herbert Hoover McCain pretty good on this one

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats what Obama needs to do. Let John McCain speak for himself.. Jon Stewart from the comedy central has been doing it. Obama will win this November...I am worried about Florida Its McCains world there

September 16, 2008 at 9:30 PM
Anonymous said...

Ispent most of my life believing that the only thing this guy Herbert Hoover ever did was get elected president during the good times in the late 20's and when things went south, he stood by and watched it all go to hell without any interference from the executive branch. A feakin' bum.

Turns out, he had lived a few lives before the presidency. Orphaned at 10, he never went to highschool. He studied nights and went to Stranford in the school's inaugural year, graduating with a degree in geology. He started his career as a mining engineer, working years in Australia and China. He and his wife got trapped in Tianjin during the Boxer Rebellion. They were both authors. Later, as a partner in a mining firm in Australia, he pretty much became independently wealthy.

But when Germany attacked Belgium in August 1914, he took over the greatest humaitarian relief effort to feed the vanquished nation the world had ever seen up to that time. After the war, in face of the ridicule of many in our Senate, he continued this relief work, organizing food shipments to starving post-war French, Germans and Russians. As a result, was extremely popular with the people of both Europe and America.

In 1927, he was so popular that the nearly railroded him into the presidency. He had proven to the world that through volunteerism, technical solutions, and minimal government input, disasters could be managed.

Then came the Depression.

"Hoover's stance on the economy was based largely on volunteerism. From before his entry to the presidency, he was a proponent of the concept that public-private cooperation was the way to achieve high long-term growth. Hoover feared that too much intervention or coercion by the government would destroy individuality and self-reliance, which he considered to be important American values. Those ideals, as well as the economy were put to the test with the onset of The Great Depression. At the outset of the Depression, Hoover claims in his memoirs that he rejected Treasury Secretary Mellon's suggested "leave-it-alone" approach,[12], critics, on the other hand, accuse Hoover of sharing Mellon's Laissez-faire viewpoint. It is often inaccurately stated that Herbert Hoover did nothing while the world economy eroded. President Hoover made several attempts to stop "the downward spiral" of the Great Depression, however his policies had little or no effect. As the economy quickly deteriorated in the early years of the Great Depression, Hoover declined to pursue legislative relief, believing that it would make people dependent on the federal government. Instead, he organized a number of voluntary measures with businesses, encouraged state and local government responses, and accelerated federal building projects. Only toward the end of his term did he support a series of legislative solutions."
-- Wikipedia.

It looks like he tried to be proactive, but he was stonewalled by a republican Congress and his own cabinet. Evidently, he just didn't get the Republican philosophy and because of this, he was made ineffective by those who did.

Interestingly, a lot of the programs and methods carried out by his successor, FDR, originated from his office. Further, today many Republican pundits accuse FDR of socialism, while Democratic pundits accuse Hoover of heartless capitalism.

As you can see, both are wrong and, if we are to experience another depression, we would fare well to learn that the type of government programs that first came out of Hoover's office and later put into practice by FDR and his government, were successful in easing the misery of many during the depression.

Interestingly, one could draw the same conclusions by comparing how the Katrina evacuation was handled versus the Gustav evacuation. Evidently, government assistance is effective and necessary during large disasters. Volunteerism and minimal government involvement alone just won't do it.

September 16, 2008 at 9:55 PM
consultant said...

Yes Obama. Keep it coming.

September 17, 2008 at 12:30 AM
Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Ispent most of my life believing that the only thing this guy Herbert Hoover ever did was get elected president during the good times in the late 20's and when things went south, he stood by and watched it all go to hell without any interference from the executive branch. A feakin' bum.

Thanks, I had no idea.

JaneZ

September 17, 2008 at 1:17 AM
Lost Cause said...

[...]
Brain Salad Surgery
It will work for you, it works for me
Brain rot perversity
Brain Salad Surgery

We've got a ballad
About a salad brain
With assurgence
In a dirty bit again.

September 17, 2008 at 7:53 AM
brian t said...

I clicked on that Brain Salad Surgery link while watching this video... so I heard McCain speaking over Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Good fit - wondering "does Obama think 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer' is a Wall St. investment bank?" 8)

PS - also regarding Herbert Hoover, don't overlook his achievements in other fields, such as engineering, or his humanitarian work. The Presidency was only one episode in a busy, accomplished life.

September 17, 2008 at 6:57 PM

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