President of downturn before the `29 crash?

[rp4prez]

I can't remember this so I thought I'd ask you all. Who was the president that did nothing during the downturn of the 1920's that no one ever remembers that was right before the crash of 29?

[socialize_me]

I can't remember this so I thought I'd ask you all. Who was the president that did nothing during the downturn of the 1920's that no one ever remembers that was right before the crash of 29?

Calvin Coolidge??

[ronpaulfollower999]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

[rp4prez]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

Yeah I was looking at that but I wasn't too sure that's why I posted the message.


Calvin Coolidge??

Was it him?

[AbolishTheGovt]

Silent Cal.

[rp4prez]

Silent Cal.

??? Wasn't it 1927 that this happened?

[nate895]

Herbert Hoover

[powerofreason]

Hoover. Calvin Coolidge was the man. Probably best president in the 20th century.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Hoover didn't "do nothing." He took action that made it worse, much as we're doing today. Then FDR came and took even more harmful action.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

First result from search is this page: http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdoverview.html

Hoover did intervene after the Stock Market crash, but the acts passed by Congress and signed by Hoover were the worst kind of intervention: they actually exacerbated the problem. The most famous of these interventions was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Raising tariffs was one of the worst things that could be done. Remember, both free market advocates and Keynesians agree that lowering prices would cure a depression, it's just that the Keynesians believe government intervention is necessary. A tariff does exactly the wrong thing by raising prices. Thus Smoot-Hawley was guaranteed to worsen any depression, not improve it. Other acts passed during Hoover's administration had similar effects of either raising prices or keeping them artificially high when they should have been dropping. Thus, it's not that Hoover was a do-nothing president, it's that he intervened in exactly the wrong way.

[rp4prez]

I believe it was Coolidge. Someone I'm arguing with on another forum thinks it was Hoover. ugh... and I KNEW it wasn't him. :) Thanks for your help!

[Deborah K]

herbert hoover

ding ding ding! 1921

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

More from the above referenced site (http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdoverview.html):

The Great Depression was by no means the first depression this country ever had, but it was clearly the worst. What made it different than the rest? At the time of the Great Depression, government intervention in the economy was higher than it had ever been and a special government agency had been set up specifically to prevent depressions and their associated problems, such as bank panics. This agency was the Federal Reserve Board and it was to have been the loaner of last resorts for banks in order to prevent collapses as had happened during earlier depressions. But as we'll see, there is good reason to believe that the Fed's actions explain a lot of the problems that lead up to the Stock market crash and the subsequent depression.

[Deborah K]

Here's something of interest: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=Nks8pTPnsVYC&dq=herbert+hoover+1921&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=4zhehkrz4h&sig=V3Uat6QuCny7aN26V6p-p7lpLEk&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPP1,M1

[jmlfod87]

wow, how could anyone think it was the man silent cal? Just lost a lot of respect for a lot of people on this board.

Best Silent cal quote, "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business. "

[Deborah K]

Here's what Ron Paul said about the economy in 1921 when Hoover was secretary of commerce: http://current.com/items/89340088_ron_paul_speaks_out_about_the_economy

[ashura]

For more info on Hoover's disastrous policies which increased the severity of the Depression, look no further than Rothbard's "America's Great Depression."

http://mises.org/rothbard/agd.pdf

[crusader]

you are wrong if you think coolidge had nothing to do with it.

Thats like saying this upcoming crash was Obama's fault.

[AbolishTheGovt]

wow, how could anyone think it was the man silent cal? Just lost a lot of respect for a lot of people on this board.

Best Silent cal quote, "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business. "

???

It WAS Calvin Coolidge who did nothing during the mid 20's minor economic downturn.

That's a GOOD thing, no one was putting Cal down by saying that.

[crusader]

minding your own business doesn't equate to resolving problems created by wilson.

The whole 20's bubble was created before coolidge got there, and he did nothing to rectify the situation.

Same situation with Bush. This bubble started much earlier than him, and he has done nothing to prevent it.

Watching your house burn down from a match without calling the fire department is no different than the guy who fans the flames. Just happens that Coolidge was watching it, and Bush is fanning the flames.


I don't give people respect just because they post here. Respect is earned.

[nbhadja]

I can't remember this so I thought I'd ask you all. Who was the president that did nothing during the downturn of the 1920's that no one ever remembers that was right before the crash of 29?

You are badly mistaken. Doing nothing would have prevented the depression and fixed the problem the GOVERNMENT caused by only having a short recession.

[Spirit of '76]

Calvin Coolidge was the man. Probably best president in the 20th century.

True.

[Spirit of '76]

I don't give people respect just because they post here. Respect is earned.

Who are you again?

[crusader]

1920s
Coolidge does nothing after 1921 crash, market corrects itself.
Coolidge does nothing for 8 years to rectify the issues with the system.
1929 market crashes again, this time hoover does some damage and the crash lasts longer, but the moral of the story is that the system had issues created in the 1910's and nothing was done.

2000's
Bush does nothing after the 2001 crash, market corrects itself.
Bush does nothing for 7 years to rectify the issues with the system.
2008 market crashes again, this time bush does some damage and the crash will last longer, but the moral of the story is that the system had issues created in the 1990's and nothing was done (or even earlier).



Coolidge was good in that he did nothing when the market crashed
Coolidge was bad in that he did nothing after the crash when reform should have occured.

[crusader]

Who are you again?

I'm about as important as you are. So you can figure that one out for yourself.

[Spirit of '76]

I'm about as important as you are. So you can figure that one out for yourself.

You're my hero.

[constitutional]

minding your own business doesn't equate to resolving problems created by wilson.

The whole 20's bubble was created before coolidge got there, and he did nothing to rectify the situation.

Same situation with Bush. This bubble started much earlier than him, and he has done nothing to prevent it.

Watching your house burn down from a match without calling the fire department is no different than the guy who fans the flames. Just happens that Coolidge was watching it, and Bush is fanning the flames.


I don't give people respect just because they post here. Respect is earned.

If my house was on fire, I'd call fire department.

If the U.S. financial sector was in trouble (created by bad government policies by intervening), I would not call on the government again. They would just add fuel to the fire. Just look at history. Same can be said for 1930's.

Let the institution fail and government do nothing. People will invest more wisely avoiding pitfalls set up by the bad government policies.

[crusader]

If my house was on fire, I'd call fire department.

If the U.S. financial sector was in trouble (created by bad government policies by intervening), I would not call on the government again. They would just add fuel to the fire. Just look at history. Same can be said for 1930's.

Let the institution fail and government do nothing. People will invest more wisely avoiding pitfalls set up by the bad government policies.

I agree, But I meant it as in the following format:
Does Ron Paul say do nothing? No. (Coolidge, You watching house burn down)
Does Ron Paul say bail out the market? No. (Bush/Hoover, You fanning flames)
Does Ron Paul say there should be Reform? Yes. (Ron Paul, You calling the fire department)

[powerofreason]

Sometimes I wish I could have lived under a president like Calvin Coolidge or Taft. Its just really, really sad and embarrassing what our nation has become.

[rp4prez]

1920s
Coolidge does nothing after 1921 crash, market corrects itself.

Wasn't Harding president durning the 1921 crash? He didn't do anything then. Coolige didn't get elected until 1923.


Coolidge does nothing for 8 years to rectify the issues with the system.
1929 market crashes again, this time hoover does some damage and the crash lasts longer, but the moral of the story is that the system had issues created in the 1910's and nothing was done.

If Coolidge didn't do anything what caused the crash of 1929?


2000's
Bush does nothing after the 2001 crash, market corrects itself.
Bush does nothing for 7 years to rectify the issues with the system.
2008 market crashes again, this time bush does some damage and the crash will last longer, but the moral of the story is that the system had issues created in the 1990's and nothing was done (or even earlier).

Wasn't one of the causes Greenspan and low interest rates after the dot com bust and 9/11? If you are relating this to 1929 then I guess you could say that Bush and Coolidge did nothing but let the Federal Reserve run a muck.