I’ve pointed out on several occasions that Herbert Hoover was a big-spending Keynesian. Heck, Hoover was pursuing failed Keynesian policies several years before Keynes produced his most well-known book, The General Theory.
Hoover’s big spending was so pronounced that it generated this cartoon in 1932.
Sadly, this cartoon applies just as well today.
Except Bush and Obama take the place of Hoover and Roosevelt – with the same dismal results.
It is amazing how people were/are aware of this principle in America (that is why the cartoon). In India, save for economists, people don’t even know what saving and spending is!! Principles of liberty are unknown or unsung in popular culture.
I wrote about this a while ago (http://thepathtotyranny.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/113/):
According to Wikipedia: “Franklin D. Roosevelt blasted the Republican incumbent for spending and taxing too much, increasing national debt, raising tariffs and blocking trade, as well as placing millions on the dole of the government. Roosevelt attacked Hoover for “reckless and extravagant” spending, of thinking “that we ought to center control of everything in Washington as rapidly as possible,” and of leading “the greatest spending administration in peacetime in all of history.”[48] Roosevelt’s running mate, John Nance Garner, accused the Republican of “leading the country down the path of socialism”.[49]”
We are repeating history here. The Democrats, led by Barack Obama, attacked Bush and the Republican for spending too much and increasing the deficit and debt (which is true). Immediately upon taking power, just like FDR and the Democrats of those days, Obama and today’s Democrats drastically increase spending and the size of the deficit, making Bush and the Republicans look “conservative” next to them.
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