The Town Hall Archives

Disco Dan · Last edited by Disco Dan on Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:05 am; edited 1 time in total

Many have accused Hoover of the Great Depression being his fault. What are your opinions on this?

Jonathan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:03 am Post subject:

Yes and no. One the one hand, the economy goes in cycles. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The actual crash was more others faults.

However, after the crash he made some real dumb moves, like gassing the bonus army in DC and introducing horrible programs to try to fix it (which is why I think he lost the election).

-Jonathan

Disco Dan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:05 am Post subject:

I've heard Hoover is recognized as doing a good Job to attempt to fix the Depression.

Jonathan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:08 am Post subject:

The key word there is 'attempt'. While he doesn't get enough credit for his efforts, the fact is they didn't work.

-Jonathan

Disco Dan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:14 am Post subject:

So, you would say he was not the "cause", but he wasn't the solution either, eh?

Samwise · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:51 am Post subject:

I agree with Jonathan, Hoover didn't initiate the Great Depression but he also did nothing to fix it, so to speak.

Jonathan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

JM91 · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject:

Jared · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:57 pm Post subject:

I have a class, and potentially a quiz, in 15 minutes, so I'll keep this brief, but in any economy predicated on the use of fiat money, the business cycle is in full effect. You will have boom, turning point, bust and recovery, with the end of the recovery stage being the only true and desirable form of the market economy. Inflation, deflation and the changing valuations that lead to this cycle can only be ended by eliminating all forms of a national bank and considering only precious metal or other tangible good specie an acceptable form of exchange.

I would differ from the Austrian school economists who make the above argument to suggest that we should return to the gold and silver standard, as this is higly impractical. However, we must recognize that with the reliance on fiat money, we incur the full effect of the business cycle. The economic policies of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover were better than average. Unfortunately for Hoover, his term simply coincided with the end of the extended boom cycle of the previous years, which had to be expected, as the presidents of the turn of the century presided over times of grave overinflation.

The bust could have been short and shallow, but the interventionist policies initiated by Roosevelt to "end" the depression failed, as such attempts to hinder the market cycle always must, and deepened and lengthened it drastically.

Jonathan · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:51 pm Post subject: