Don't compare President Obama, FDR to Hitler
Don't compare President Obama, FDR to Hitler
Kathy Weaver
GUEST COLUMNIST
Let's take a trip down memory lane but not the same lane as Charles Robertson, the history revisionist, travels.
Shortly after President Herbert Hoover took office, he faced the meltdown of our economy caused by stock speculators and the sell off of stocks resulting in the crash of 1929.
Hoover's policies to deal with this depression were laissez-faire. Determined to balance the budget, he continued the income tax rates at only 24 percent for the highest income; rejected federal relief payments to individuals in the belief people would then not want to work; urged large banks to voluntarily loan to smaller banks to prevent collapse.
By 1932 these policies lead to 24.9 percent unemployment, the collapse of banks and home foreclosures.
Only at the end of his term did Hoover take action: The Revenue Act of 1932 to increase revenue; the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to reduce foreclosures and stimulate the housing market; the Emergency Relief and Construction Act to fund public works programs; and the Reconstruc-tion Finance Corporation to provide government secured loans to financial institutions, railroads and farmers.
This was too little, too late. Contrary to Robertson's statement, by 1932 the Great Depression had spread across the globe with an estimated 30 million people unemployed.
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933, 13 million people were unemployed and almost every bank was closed.
Programs were enacted to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and those facing foreclosure, and the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
FDR began the WPA, PWA and CCC to put people back to work. By 1937, unemployment was at 14.2 percent.
FDR's treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, helped him establish Social Security, supported Labor Unions (Wagner Act), and advocated raising taxes on the wealthy because as he stated "people in my class do not pay what they should."
But Morgenthau's balancing of the federal budget prematurely led to the recession of 1937.
Many of the New Deal measures were ruled against by the Supreme Court but a revolution in constitutional law took place, allowing our government to legally regulate the economy.
Roosevelt used the "good neighbor" policy to help our allies prior to the U.S. going to war. He built up our national defense system, led our country with the "United Nations" to win World War II.
FDR's 12 years in office gave us Social Security, policies supporting labor unions, the "G.I. Bill" to educate veterans and V.A. home loans, which helped to build the middle class.
Hitler took advantage of the economic crisis of 1930 by using propaganda and force to become dictator of Nazi Germany, end labor unions, eliminate all political opposition, and through his racially motivated reign of terror murdered 11 million people in labor camps and gas chambers.
During our current economic crisis, President Obama's policies have decreased unemployment; revitalized the domestic auto industry; established new manufacturing, health care insurance reform and consumer financial protections; maintained Social Security and Medicare; backed labor unions; ended the war in Iraq; killed Osama Bin Laden; improved nutrition to public school lunch programs; and he advocates removing tax loopholes and subsidies that benefit only the wealthiest.
Anyone who tries to compare Hitler to FDR and President Obama is insulting our intelligence and the American people.
Kathy Weaver is a resident of Clermont.
Friday, April 20, 2012 - www.dailycommercial.com/042012letterw