Great news everyone! We're once again going to play "Candidates who don't know their history".
So in the last two debates John McCain has whipped out the Herbert Hoover reference on Obama twice. While this is probably an effective gimmick for the average individual who is terrified of another Depression, someone forgot to tell John McCain that Ms Jones happens to be a resident expert on one Herbert Clark Hoover and his administration. My major research project for last semester was an in depth analysis of Hoover and his Presidency. I know, good timing right? If you're looking for some bedtime reading I'll send you the paper. It'll put you right out.
Poor Bert Hoover gets a bad rap. This is a guy who once said:
"The trouble with capitalism is capitalists; they're too damn greedy."
Right on Bert!
Anyway, getting on with the facts I would first like to gently remind the Senator from Arizona that Mr. Hoover was a member of the, ahem, Republican party and all of the things Hoover did were in keeping with his very strong Republican principles. Seriously, this guy was as Republican as they come. Second, let's get down and dirty and look at exactly what was said:
In debate number two McCain said:
"Well, you know, nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall. There has been five or six of them and if you wait long enough, there will probably be another one. But he wants to raise taxes. My friends, the last president to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover, and he practiced protectionism as well, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point."
Herbert Hoover did, with the approval of Congress, increase the tax rates of the highest and lowest income earners in the United States. He did this in 1931, in an attempt to increase confidence in the National Treasury. However, his initial reaction following the 1929 drop was to call for a tax reduction. The tax increase was then later implemented to counter the fact that tax revenues had so drastically decreased (since incomes were down and taxes had been reduced) but of course this turned out to be too little and way too late as the country was already in the Depression by that time. SO to say that Herbert Hoover was just running around jacking up taxes on poor defenseless Americans after the market crash is not exactly what I would call a true statement. One might suggest that had Hoover immediately increased taxes the GDP would not have had almost 2 years to drastically fall off. Taxes suck but my friends, shit aint free. I'll address his trade jab in the next one.
Tonight we were treated to this little dandy:
"So I don't -- I don't think there's any doubt that Senator Obama wants to restrict trade and he wants to raise taxes. And the last president of the United States that tried that was Herbert Hoover, and we went from a deep recession into a depression."
Well we've talked about the taxes so lets get on with the trade issue because I gotta tell you, this one really chapped my ass. Hoover did practice protectionism and restrict trade but he did so for reasons that are VERY different than the circumstances we see today and by the time he did it we were already IN a depression. This act did not cause the country to suddenly shift into a depression as the Senator suggests. One of the major factors in the Great Depression (and I admittedly failed to address this in my Depression blog) was that the agricultural economy in the Midwest and South was in the tank. Because of the lack of trade restrictions in the years leading up to the Depression, farmers over-produced in an attempt to reap the rewards of a very free market. As a result of this change in production an enormous surplus was created and farmers were unable to sell commodities at prices that would garner a profit and in many cases they were selling at a loss. Trade restrictions were initiated through the passing of the Smoot-Hawley Act which raised tariffs on industrial and agricultural products in an attempt to curb excessive production by U.S. Farmers. Now if all of this sounds like a big mess that has nothing to do with our current situation, you would be correct. It's an apples to oranges comparison that frankly is bananas.
I won't drag on and on with right now but you can read about Obama's trade policies here if it interests you:
I'd offer you the John McCain equivalent to that but he doesn't have one so instead I will offer you this quote which I guess sums up his trade policy: "Lowering barriers to trade creates more and better jobs, and higher wages. It keeps inflation under control. It keeps mortgage and other interest rates low, and it makes goods more affordable for low and middle income consumers. Protectionism threatens all those benefits." you can read the rest of that article here: http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/news/speeches/32676e3b-4492-4fc4-b0e9-e01efe5ccebe.htm
While I don't fundamentally agree with Senator Obama on all fronts, this is one area where I am in complete agreement. In my personal opinion, the over-extension of free trade has created a situation in which major industrialized employers are given good cause to go overseas, where labor is cheaper, causing us to not only lose jobs and tax revenues from those companies but also to drastically increase our import ratio. Somehow "Made in America" now translates to "Too expensive to be sold on the shelves at Wal-Mart". Reducing imports and providing incentives for industrial companies to remain in or move to the U.S. will increase jobs, production, and tax ratios. Now I realize there are counter arguments to this but if you want to see them here you are just going to have to post them in the comments.
The bottom line of today's lesson is:
A) Senator McCain needs to study up on what went down in the Hoover years before he starts throwing around loose facts and
B) Senators, I know Herbert Hoover and Obama, your no Herb Hoover. Frankly, Herbert Hoover was a better man than both of you. He didn't cause the Depression but he took the rap for it in history and it's too bad because he was a damn good guy who inherited a disaster and frankly Senator McCain, as an Iowan (like Bert) and as a former Republican I'm pissed at you for perpetuating that myth. Find an actual shitty President to compare your opponent to (like Jimmy Carter for instance) and quit beating on poor Bert.
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