Robert Reich: The last Republican with original ideas was Hoover

[jmowreader]

Interesting read:

http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2011/02/11/who-says-republicans-have-no-new-ideas/

[handmade34]

1. I have long loved Robert Reich

[pampango]

2. While it's true that the repub playbook never seems to change, it predates Hoover.

Check out Calvin Coolidge and tell me he couldn't have been a featured speaker at CPAC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge#

"With the exception of favoring increased tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation, and carried about this belief by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction. The regulatory state under Coolidge was, as one biographer described it, "thin to the point of invisibility."

"Some later criticized Coolidge as part of a general criticism of laissez-faire government] His reputation underwent a renaissance during the Ronald Reagan Administration (surprise, surprise), but the ultimate assessment of his presidency is still divided between those who approve of his reduction of the size of government programs and those who believe the federal government should be more involved in regulating and controlling the economy.

"Coolidge's taxation policy was that of his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon: taxes should be lower and fewer people should have to pay them."

"While he was not an isolationist, Coolidge was reluctant to enter into foreign alliances. Coolidge saw the landslide Republican victory of 1920 as a rejection of the Wilsonian idea that the United States should join the League of Nations."

"The Republicans retained the White House in 1928 in the person of Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. Coolidge had been reluctant to choose Hoover as his successor; on one occasion he remarked that "for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad."

[mmonk]

3. Yep.

The top income tax rate when I was born was 91%. I laugh when I hear conversations about the economy today and the tax rates. Boatloads of horse hockey all around.

[RedCloud]

4. And they all suck like a Hoover!

[ladjf]

5. Reich is one of our smartest people and he is willing to share his

intellect with us. Thanks Dr. Reich.