More History

There are so many similarities between the Roosevelt administration and the Obama administration that it would be easy to draw the conclusion that is what Obama is using for a blueprint. It is a known fact that recent studies of the Great Depression and the Roosevelt administration have exposed the fallacies of Roosevelt’s success. History will not be kind to the Community Organizer either!

Burton W. Folsom, Jr in his book “New Deal or Raw Deal” tells us how Morgenthau, Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury describes the first two terms of the Roosevelt administration:

“After almost two full terms of Roosevelt and the New Deal, here are Morgenthau’s startling words – his confession – spoken candidly before his fellow Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee:

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…. And an enormous debt to boost!”

Unemployment was 24.75 percent when Roosevelt took office in 1933, and with all his spending the unemployment dropped to its lowest point of 14.18 percent in 1937 then went back up to 14.45 percent in 1940. In spite of the billions spent, Roosevelt’s New Deal was a complete failure.

Unemployment was 7.6 percent when Obama took office in January of 2009. He asked for and got some 780 billion dollars. The unemployment rate is now 9.1 percent and as we all know the last jobs report added no jobs at all. Like his predecessor Roosevelt, Obama’s jobs program has been a complete failure. The unemployment figures for Roosevelt is from the U.S. Bureau of the Census and can be seen here.

The unemployment figures for Obama are from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and can be seen here. 
 
The following information is taken from John T Flynn’s book “The Roosevelt Myth”, chapter 3, The Banking Crisis.

Roosevelt was sworn in on March 4th 1933 and on March 9th he called for “…legislation to control the opening of the banks and confirm all that he had done. “ But the Congress “…could not wait in this new order for a bill to be prepared.” Therefore “A folded news paper was tossed into the hopper to serve as a bill until the document could be completed.” The “Congress passed it instantly….”

The very next day Roosevelt forwarded a message to Congress, ”…in curt and imperious words demanding economy.”

Roosevelt warned that: “Too often … liberal governments have been wrecked on the rocks of loose fiscal policy. We must avoid this danger.”

But if we go back to the early morning of February 19, 1933, at a ball in the Astor Hotel, Roosevelt sat in “his seat of honor with Raymond Moley, then his closest adviser…” setting across from him. Roosevelt slipped a note to Moley under the table. The note “…was from the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, and in his own handwriting.” The note stated “A most critical situation has arisen in the country of which I feel it my duty to advise you confidentially.” The note continued “The breakdown in balancing the budget by the House; the proposals for inflation of the currency and the widespread discussion of it; the publication of the RFC [Reconstruction Finance Corporation] loans (to banks) and the bank runs, boarding and bank failures from this cause and various other events and rumors.” Hoover concluded with the fact that this “…had now culminated in a state of alarm which is rapidly reaching the proportions of a crisis.”

We are told that “Twelve days later Hoover had not yet received even an acknowledgment of the letter.” When Roosevelt replied “he indicated there was nothing he could do.

It is pointed out that: “…Hoover was powerless to do anything effective without the concurrence of the new President because he lacked powers to act alone and he would have to get the powers from Congress, or at least an assurance that Congress would validate his assumption of powers. Roosevelt had no wish to stem the panic.”

We are informed that: “The greater the catastrophe in which Hoover went out of power the greater would be the acclaim when Roosevelt assumed power.” This was Roosevelt’s thinking!

Mr. Flynn continues “And from that day forward, as those around him [Roosevelt] at the time have testified, he showed not the least concern about doing anything to arrest the onset of the panic. What he wanted was a complete crash. He wished for the panic to sweep on to a total banking disaster. He wished for the public to see his predecessor go out in a scene of utter ruin, thus setting the stage for him to step upon it as the savior who would rebuild from the very bottom.”

We find according to Mr. Flynn that by February 19, “…gold withdrawals from banks increased…” –  “Factories were closing.” – “Unemployment was rising rapidly.” – “Bank closings multiplied daily.”

We find out that “…on February 25, Hoover received a message from James Rand that Rexford Tugwell had said that the banks would collapse in a couple of days and that is what they wanted.”

“On February 26, Mills [Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury] was informed that Woodin [Roosevelt had named him to be his Secretary of the Treasury] would be in Washington next day but was instructed to take no part in dealing with the banking crisis, as the new administration intended ‘to take over at the lowest point possible,’ to see the tidal wave rush over the body of Hoover and the Republican party no matter what it cost the unfortunate millions whose bank accounts were melting away in the process.”

It is becoming clear that Roosevelt’s concern was not with the welfare of the Nation and the welfare of the people but the “…failure of the Republican party.”

As Mills put it “in other words, they [the incoming Roosevelt administration] do not wish to check the panic.”

According to Ogden Mills referring to a conference about the plan for the banking problem “…in the end Henry P. Davison, Roy Harrison, and Leffingwell and Gilbert of J.P. Morgan and Company, were chiefly responsible and that it was a bankers’ plan.”

Amazing, “In this case Roosevelt was hailed as a magician as he put into effect a plan worked out for him by bankers and announced over the air in a speech written for him by one of Hoover’s own Treasury officials.”

As for Roosevelt we find on page 15 that; “As for the President, he was at the pastime he loved best – sailing around our northern coast in a small onesail vessel as its skipper. Congress had gone home and was out of his way. It had put vast powers into his hands and had put a fabulous sum of money - $3,300,000,000 – in addition to all the other specific appropriations for government, into his hand to be spent as his sweet will in any way he desired.”

It should be noted that Roosevelt in the 73rd Congress had a Senate with a 63% Democrats, 36% Republican and1% Farm Labor. In the house it was 72.4% Democrats 26.4% Republicans 1.2% Farm Labor. This information is located here.

The United States Congress is still passing bills that have not been written. They pass a bill and the president then signs it into law. The bureaucrats flesh it out to make it the rule of law. We can not believe this is the way the Founding Fathers intended things for to work.

When Obama the community organizer was sworn into office on January 20 of 2009, he held out his hand. Congress with hat in hand dropped to their knee and said yes sir. As a result, we the people, got the so-called stimulus bill.

Obama the community organizer had a Democratic voting share in the Senate of 58% Democrats and 42% Republicans. In the House he had a voting share of 58.8% Democrats and 41.2% Republicans.
That information is here.

The official title of the bill is “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” and it was signed into law on February 17, 2009 by President Barack Obama. The approximate cost was estimated to be $787 Billion at the time of passage, you can bet that has increased. The bill is located here.
As for as who spends the money that is made clear in the bill.

In section three 3. Titled purposes and principles, sub-paragraph (b) General principles concerning use of funds. – We find that: “The President and the heads of Federal departments and agencies shall manage and expend the funds made available in this Act so as to achieve the purposes specified in subsection (a), including commencing expenditures and activities as quickly as possible consistent with prudent management.”

Have a nice day.