[reaganaut1]

The NYT business "chief financial correspondent" seems genuninely shocked by the idea that government efforts to keep wages artificially high cause high unemployment and an extended depression. You can't help workers in the long run by bankrupting their employers. (Well, you can have taxpayers honor their contracts, as in GM, but that cannot be generalized to the whole economy.)

I have not yet read Amity Shlaes book on the Great Depression, "The Forgotten Man", but I'd be surprised if she has not made a similar argument.

If the Democrats' policies have the same policy this time, he'll be shocked again.

[FromLori]

When Obama was elected, many compared him to a modern day FDR. See this Time Magazine cover, for example.

On the other hand, financial writer Ed Harrison has called Obama a “black Herbert Hoover”.

Who is right?

It is true that Hoover - like Obama - did not force any meaningful change or reform to the banking or financial system. See this, this and this.

It is true that Hoover - like Obama -appointed as his top economic advisers banking insiders.

It is true that Hoover - like Obama - is trying to paper over the crash with happy talk.

But - unlike Hoover - Team Obama has printed tens of trillions of dollars and - instead of giving the money to consumers or the real economy - is throwing the money at the biggest banks.

And - unlike Hoover - Team Obama is massively manipulating the markets in so many ways that it is impossible to keep track.

The Obama economic team is destroying the real economy in order to prop up the financial giants. They are indebting the country and burying us under a moutain of debt, manipulating the markets and using happy talk to try to prop up a corrupt and fraudulent system which has stolen all of the poker chips.

Obama’s actions prove that he is not only not a new FDR, he is actually worse than Herbert Hoover.

Race has nothing to do with it.

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-is-worse-than-herbert-hoover.html

[meandog]

Anyone ever hear of “Smoot-Hawley” as in Sen. Reed Smoot and Rep. Willis Hawley?

[raybbr]

I wish I was a cartoonist. I would draw a camel (representing America's businesses) out in the middle of the desert with union thugs riding on its back. Each one of them would have a "tap" into the camel's hump sucking water out of the camel as they wanted it. Each goon would be saying things like "the camel has more water than it needs", "just a little bit more water won't hurt", "the camel is greedy and doesn't need all that water", etc. (all the usual union stupidity)

Eventually the camel would die still miles from the nearest source of water. The idiots from the unions would be standing around wondering why the camel died and what they are supposed to do now that they are stuck out in the desert. One or two would be still yelling at the camel calling it greedy.

I wish I could draw...

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

In most magazines pre-depression, there were advertisements
about how to make money on the stock market.

The FRB had opened the spigot on loans to buy stock.
Than it closed the the spigot.
After it hit there were no more ads!

On TV and other Media outlets, there were many ads on how
to make money in real-estate.
And the FRB opened the spigot on real-estate loans,
It closed the spigot and started a new depression.

[Parmy]

I had the book loaned to me. Finally I had to give it back after reading about half. It made me so mad that I could only read a few pages at a time.

And these pukes want to do the same thing again, only more and bigger.

[decimon]

Hoover's pro-labor stance helped cause Great Depression, UCLA economist says

[Wildbill22]

I wonder if Hoover was a “compassionate conservative”?

[UCFRoadWarrior]

What I find interesting in all this....

There is a current mind-set to blame the GOP (Hoover, Smoot-Hawley Tariff) for the Great Depression.

Note that these are the same liberals, and, faux-cons who support Liberal Free Trade Globalism.....they are the ones who bash the GOP of the 20’s and 30’s, but yet support all of FDRs Liberal Free Trade Globalist ideas (FDR, through the UN, is the father of GATT, WTO, modern free trade movement...FDR, the guy who liked his Uncle Joe [Stalin])

I get a kick out of all those who will bash FDR for his domestic policies.....yet are lock-step, goose-step with him on Free Trade Globalism. I did not there was a choice of flavors of Communism at the local Socialism Store

Hoover made some mistakes in handling the economy at this time, but, he inherited a huge mess that was festering for years. No matter what people think about Hoover....he was not FDR....FDR installed socialism in America....and Free Trade Globalism and Communism throughout the world.

[DManA]

It’s amazing the weird positions the NYT can contort itself into to defend the indefensible. Now they’re DEFENDING Hoover. LOL.