Can We Get Out Of This Mess?
Calvin Coolidge was president during much of the era known to history as "The Roaring Twenties." *** Coolidge was a conservative, including in his use of the English language, as he conserved words to the American press and to the American public. As the election of 1928 approached, Coolidge called together members of the press and made a startling announcement. Let's see...do you want me to tell you EVERYTHING he said? Okay, but you asked for it. Let me get my fingers limbered up....flex...flex...flex. Ready? Here we go: "I do not choose to run for president in 1928." And with that, Coolidge walked out of the room. Whew! I'm worn out from typing his statement!
Many Americans wondered why Coolidge had opted out of another term, as he most certainly would have been re-elected. Stories circulated, and I can't tell you with absolute certainty that any of these stories was 100% true, but there's probably some truth to them. One story kind of sums up all of the other stories about Coolidge's choice to step down as president, although the story does make Coolidge something of a prophet, and a pretty accurate prophet at that. This isn't a word-for-word recital, but the gist of the story was that a few months after his announcement that he would not run for president, and his Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, had been nominated on the Republican ticket for president (Hoover too was a likely winner in the election), Coolidge told his wife and a cabinet secretary or two that there was a depression coming. He said that Hoover would have to spend lots of money to combat the downturn, but that he wouldn't spend enough, and that the Democrats would win the presidency, and that they would spend money like water. After that, the country would be ready for him (Coolidge) again. As I said, the story does make Coolidge something of a prophet, but it certainly fits with his general philosophy. "Supposedly" he also told some folks that he had been elected to save money (something he did with great ability), but that the time had come to spend money, and that he did not fit that role. Hmm, if only those modern Republicans had read this info about Coolidge. At least he understood his role, and that the role of the presidency in those times was going to change and that he didn't fit into it, but that his role would return. Thus the ebb and flow of political eras.
Today, we seem to be in a quandary; that is, there's a general feeling that government needs to spend money to help the floundering economy, but the fact is, the country is trillions of dollars in the hole already. Bush inherited a surplus and a declining national debt.^^^ As for the surplus, he cut taxes, with much of that money going to the wealthiest Americans, who already had plenty, and who frequently just took the tax savings and invested it in things that drove up the cost of necessary items, like oil and gasoline and various food stuffs. This was a tremendous transfer of wealth from middle and lower income Americans to the wealthy, and in the case of oil, to foreign countries, many of them not known for their loving affection for America. Of course, the greedy bastards were also heavily involved in “mortgage backed securities,” which has proven to be one of the daggers thrust into the heart of the American economy. The “sit on their class” showed how they had become an entire “industry” unto themselves, albeit one that produced nothing tangible. At least the greedy barons of the 1800s and early 1900s produced steel, oil, coal, railroads, ships, etc. Further as to the surplus, we got involved in two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, and they continue to this day, and Bush NEVER asked the American people to help pay to fight those wars, except in the all important category of blood. Add to this the need for “Homeland Security,“ after "9/11," and more money went out the door. Add to that the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and it shouldn’t take a mathematics professor to tell you that the surplus was long gone, but that you might need a mathematics professor to total up the increasing debt. Which brings us to the national debt, it went up by TRILLIONS under Bush and the Republican controlled Congress; more than under ANY other president in American history, and we‘re still counting. Mr. Bush’s legacy will be with us for many, many years to come.
Now we have a new administration, and while it has only been on the job for a few weeks, it seems to me that it, too, is trying to preserve the fantasy of the system being “intact.” In my opinion, this is not going to work. It already hasn’t worked under Bush. Both administrations seem intent on trying to pretend that this is still a free market (crapola) economy. It isn't!!! Bush and his minions took us back in time to try to relive a part of history when there was little regulation of business and industry, but when that very system got into trouble, just like during the Great Depression, these same "free marketers" turned to the government for help, hat in hand, and the Bush "free marketers" offered them billions. That was the end of this free market nonsense. Now we need to return to the reality of 2009, not 1929!!!
End of "Part One." I know many of you like the "word histories," and I will be posting several "word histories" in a separate article either before or after "Part Two." I have much of the work on the word histories already finished.
*** Coolidge was vice president under Warren G. Harding, and they took office in March, 1921 (in those days, presidents took office on March 4th, not January 20th, as they do today). Harding died in office in 1923, and Coolidge became president. He ran for a term of his own in 1924, but chose not to run for another term in 1928.
^^^Without checking on my memory of the facts, the country actually paid DOWN the national debt in the late 1990s (both Clinton AND the Republican Congress deserve credit for this), and this was the first time a substantial amount had been paid on the national debt since.....guess who? Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s! While admirable, both situations also had consequences to the downside, as without government debt for investors to buy up, off they went into other forms of investments, like the stock market in the 1920s and 2000s, and oil and mortgage backed securities in the 2000s.
Many Americans wondered why Coolidge had opted out of another term, as he most certainly would have been re-elected. Stories circulated, and I can't tell you with absolute certainty that any of these stories was 100% true, but there's probably some truth to them. One story kind of sums up all of the other stories about Coolidge's choice to step down as president, although the story does make Coolidge something of a prophet, and a pretty accurate prophet at that. This isn't a word-for-word recital, but the gist of the story was that a few months after his announcement that he would not run for president, and his Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, had been nominated on the Republican ticket for president (Hoover too was a likely winner in the election), Coolidge told his wife and a cabinet secretary or two that there was a depression coming. He said that Hoover would have to spend lots of money to combat the downturn, but that he wouldn't spend enough, and that the Democrats would win the presidency, and that they would spend money like water. After that, the country would be ready for him (Coolidge) again. As I said, the story does make Coolidge something of a prophet, but it certainly fits with his general philosophy. "Supposedly" he also told some folks that he had been elected to save money (something he did with great ability), but that the time had come to spend money, and that he did not fit that role. Hmm, if only those modern Republicans had read this info about Coolidge. At least he understood his role, and that the role of the presidency in those times was going to change and that he didn't fit into it, but that his role would return. Thus the ebb and flow of political eras.
Today, we seem to be in a quandary; that is, there's a general feeling that government needs to spend money to help the floundering economy, but the fact is, the country is trillions of dollars in the hole already. Bush inherited a surplus and a declining national debt.^^^ As for the surplus, he cut taxes, with much of that money going to the wealthiest Americans, who already had plenty, and who frequently just took the tax savings and invested it in things that drove up the cost of necessary items, like oil and gasoline and various food stuffs. This was a tremendous transfer of wealth from middle and lower income Americans to the wealthy, and in the case of oil, to foreign countries, many of them not known for their loving affection for America. Of course, the greedy bastards were also heavily involved in “mortgage backed securities,” which has proven to be one of the daggers thrust into the heart of the American economy. The “sit on their class” showed how they had become an entire “industry” unto themselves, albeit one that produced nothing tangible. At least the greedy barons of the 1800s and early 1900s produced steel, oil, coal, railroads, ships, etc. Further as to the surplus, we got involved in two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, and they continue to this day, and Bush NEVER asked the American people to help pay to fight those wars, except in the all important category of blood. Add to this the need for “Homeland Security,“ after "9/11," and more money went out the door. Add to that the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and it shouldn’t take a mathematics professor to tell you that the surplus was long gone, but that you might need a mathematics professor to total up the increasing debt. Which brings us to the national debt, it went up by TRILLIONS under Bush and the Republican controlled Congress; more than under ANY other president in American history, and we‘re still counting. Mr. Bush’s legacy will be with us for many, many years to come.
Now we have a new administration, and while it has only been on the job for a few weeks, it seems to me that it, too, is trying to preserve the fantasy of the system being “intact.” In my opinion, this is not going to work. It already hasn’t worked under Bush. Both administrations seem intent on trying to pretend that this is still a free market (crapola) economy. It isn't!!! Bush and his minions took us back in time to try to relive a part of history when there was little regulation of business and industry, but when that very system got into trouble, just like during the Great Depression, these same "free marketers" turned to the government for help, hat in hand, and the Bush "free marketers" offered them billions. That was the end of this free market nonsense. Now we need to return to the reality of 2009, not 1929!!!
End of "Part One." I know many of you like the "word histories," and I will be posting several "word histories" in a separate article either before or after "Part Two." I have much of the work on the word histories already finished.
*** Coolidge was vice president under Warren G. Harding, and they took office in March, 1921 (in those days, presidents took office on March 4th, not January 20th, as they do today). Harding died in office in 1923, and Coolidge became president. He ran for a term of his own in 1924, but chose not to run for another term in 1928.
^^^Without checking on my memory of the facts, the country actually paid DOWN the national debt in the late 1990s (both Clinton AND the Republican Congress deserve credit for this), and this was the first time a substantial amount had been paid on the national debt since.....guess who? Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s! While admirable, both situations also had consequences to the downside, as without government debt for investors to buy up, off they went into other forms of investments, like the stock market in the 1920s and 2000s, and oil and mortgage backed securities in the 2000s.
Labels: economy, George W. Bush, Obama Administration, the Great Depression, world economy
posted by Randy at 1:48 PM
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