[MNJohnnie]

Ah, well Hoover was the US President when the 1929 Stock Market crash happened. His response was to pass a serious protectionist trade bill and cut Govt spending to the bone. It was a seriously wrong answer economically. He was a Republican. Republicans then spent the next 72 years pretty much the constant minority party in the US House of Representatives.

[nopardons]

He lied...he's not Swiss.

[beyond the sea]

Thanks for that.

When I wrote "Really?" in post 2, I was just asking for other FReepers' opinions on that sentence about protectionism in the article.

Thanks for the short history lesson.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Good point. You forgot that Hoover raised taxes too to balance the budget. And there were other disastrous policies. Three strikes and you're out--for 70 years. There are still diehard Roosevelt democrats out there, even though Roosevelt did many things to prolong the pain. But Republicans got ALL the blame, and they probably deserved it.