…is not what many believe. Neither is the romantic recollection of FDR. For the true history of both FDR and Hoover, I recommend the Econtalk interview “Amity Shlaes on the Great Depression“, and Ms. Shlaes new book on the same topic. What FDR did to the U.S. is very different than the romantic recollection.
Today the WSJ corrects the Dems revisionist history, which concludes as follows:
…Now, since we’re talking Hoover, which Presidential candidate has a similar agenda of protectionism and tax increases? Hmmm.
Oh, that’s right. Just the other day, one of the candidates for President was saying she’d withdraw from Nafta if the Mexicans didn’t do what she demanded, and she wants “a pause” in free trade. She also wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts, more than doubling the rate on dividends back to 39.6% from 15%.
Her Democratic opponent agrees with her, except that he’d raise taxes even more, including by eliminating the $102,000 cap on income subject to the 6.2% payroll tax (12.4% when you include employers), and raising the capital gains tax to at least 25%, and maybe even 28%, from 15%. Add up all of Barack Obama’s tax increases and his proposals would get entirely too close to Hoover’s top marginal rate of 63%.
Maybe we should be afraid of Hoover’s ghost.
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