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I see we have a libertarian on the boards. Nice to have you around here. You are slightly misinformed on Hoover's policies and the causes of the Great Depression.


Hoover's first steps were:


(1) formed the Farm Board that lent some $500m to farmers to keep their homesteads, and a commission bought up commodity surpluses.

(2)tax cuts (1930) by 15%

(3) inflate the money supply

(4) and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff that you mentioned where Hoover raised the tariff with a 52.8% ad valorem rate


The first three seem like logical responses to the Depression, but personally, as a free trader, I wouldn't have passed the Hawley-Smoot tariff. My feelings are that he didn't really want to support the tariff increase, but he had to for political reasons.


At any rate, when his initial attempts at solving the Depression failed, he made a last gasp effort with the RFC which lent $2 billion to banks, insurance companies, etc. and the Emergency Relief and Construction Act which gave some $2 billion for direct relief and construction projects.


If you put yourself in Hoover's shoes, I think he made good decisions. Obviously, 80 years later, it's a lot easier to judge and be critical, but honestly, I probably would've taken the same measures he did in the same order.




I like your philsophies, but disagree with you on the causes of the Great Depression.


Here's my take:


(1) Overproduction  where supply well outstripped demand which caued a self-perpetuating deflationary spiral that drove down prices, which drove down profits, both of which drove down wages and employment. In my opinion, this was caused by new technologies that overdeveloped, the wage gap and inequitable distribtuon of wealth ("social statification") and buying on credit.


(2) the international situation where (a) the U.S. market sucked up all the capital (not putting it in banks or overseas) (b) Europeans had less buying power (another cause of overproduction) and (c) American companies seeking protectionism.


(3) sector weakenesses in agriculture. housing, cars, and mining/lumber.


(4) bank failures





True -- can't argue with you here. Not a big fan of FDR.




You're right. And the thing is, New Deal didn't even help the American economy. Any progress was halted in 1937 with the "Roosevelt Recession" and the New Deal pretty much ended with the midterm elections of 1938.


Something most people don't know (but you probably do) is that it was actually the mobilization for and execution of World War 2 that brought America out of the Depression.


Glad to have you around here, Truth.


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