More on the New Deal

Polemic Perspective:

FDR’s campaign against Hoover was based on a platform of a free market economy. FDR continually criticized Hoover for too much Government intervention and careless spending . Take this quote spoken by FDR during his 1932 presidential campaign as a prime example:

“I accuse the present Administration (Hoover’s) of being the greatest spending Administration in peace time in all American history - one which piled bureau on bureau, commission on commission, and has failed to anticipate the dire needs of reduced earning power of the people. Bureaus and bureaucrats have been retained at the expense of the taxpayer…. We are spending altogether too much money for government services which are neither practical nor necessary.”

[...]It was a member of FDR’s “Brain Trust”, Rexford Tugwell, who admitted that “practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs Hoover started” - the same Hoover programs that FDR rejected as impractical or unnecessary.

[...]One of the most devastating market interventions taken by the Hoover administration was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff which used government regulation to raise tariffs by an average of 59% on some 25,000 items. This Tariff eliminated competition with foreign countries within our borders. Although, that may seem like a great idea to stimulate our local economy, what Hoover failed to realize was that countries where we once pushed great quantities of exports retaliated by shutting their borders on us.

[...]To further exemplify Hoover’s steadfast belief in Government interventionism we can look at the Revenue Act of 1932. Hoover signed this into law, and the income tax on Americans was doubled. At a time when Americans needed their money most, the Government decided it necessary to confiscate more and more of it.

[...]In 1932, the American populous elected Franklin Roosevelt under a platform dedicated to reducing government spending by 25%, enforcing a gold standard, and balancing budgets. The mordant truth is that they were about to get the exact opposite.

[...]It has been revealed by many economists that the NIRA increased the cost of doing business by up to 40%. The negligence of the NIRA is further exemplified when looking at the five months leading up to the passage of the NIRA, which saw factory employment increase by 25 percent, and comparing that to the six months after the NIRA was passed, where industrial production dropped by 25%. (He switches from employment to production here, but I'd imagine there's a strong correlation)

[...]The true fatuity of FDR is demonstrated by the Agriculture Adjustment Act and the fact that while we were destroying vast amounts of our farmers’ crops we were simultaneously importing these same crops from abroad.

FDR’s abundant increases in taxes were very influential in prolonging the calamity of the Great Depression as well. Roosevelt drastically increased taxes on all private business that managed to retain some of their net income. For example, a company that retained 70% of their net income was taxed 73%. Needless to say, little opportunity for expansion was afforded to those companies that were capable of it. The 1930’s saw private investment decrease by $3.1 billion because of taxation policies like this.

State income taxes doubled from 1930-1940. The highest tax bracket was raised to 79%. FDR even tried to tax any income in excess of $25,000 at the rate of 100% by passing an executive order. However, congress shortly thereafter disposed of the executive order. FDR has been one of the most economically uneducated and incapable presidents in the history of the United States and his tax policies are just one justification of this.