Expand Your Mind

I read this article today about economic policy and thought it was an informative read from history. I know very little about the presidencies in the early 20th century - what can I say, I went to public school. Seems like all I've ever heard were negative things about Warren G. Harding. Maybe I was brainwashed by progressives? :)

Here are some snippets I found interesting:

One of Harding's campaign slogans was "less government in business," and it served him well. Harding embraced the advice of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and called for tax cuts in his first message to Congress on April 12, 1921. The highest taxes, on corporate revenues and "excess" profits, were to be cut. Personal income taxes were to be left as is, with a top rate of 8 percent of incomes above $4,000. Harding recognized the crucial importance of encouraging the investment that is essential for growth and jobs, something that FDR never did.

Top rate of 8%??? What? We've come a long way. I think I read this week that in 2011 when the Bush tax cuts expire, the top rate will be almost 40%. That's federal tax. Add Social Security, Medicare, and state tax if applicable and wow. When every other dollar of ANYONE's money in our country is going to the government, something is very wrong.

Powerful senators, however, favored giving bonuses to veterans, as 38 states had done. But such spending increases would have put upward pressure on taxes. On July 12, 1921, Harding went to the Senate and urged tax and spending cuts. He noted that a half-billion dollars in compensation and insurance claims were already being paid to 813,442 veterans, and 107,824 veterans were enrolled in government-sponsored vocational training programs.

In 1922, the House passed a veterans' bonus bill 333-70, without saying how the bonuses would be funded. The senate passed it 35-17. Despite intense lobbying from the American Legion, Harding vetoed the bill on September 19— just six weeks before congressional elections, when presidents generally throw goodies at voters. Harding said it was unfair to add to the burdens of 110 million taxpayers.

I'm sure this was largely controversial, but he was sticking to his guns on fiscal responsibility. It doesn't matter how much you want or even need something - if you don't have the money you can't afford it. Long lost policies we all must embrace if America is ever going to be great again.

Harding's Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover wanted government intervention in the economy— which as president he was to pursue when he faced the Great Depression a decade later— but Harding would have none of it. He insisted that relief measures were a local responsibility.

I haven't heard a politician say that relief measures were a local responsibility in my lifetime. I would LOVE to hear it. I completely agree and I know that if our individual communities would take care of their poor, hungry, and afflicted the federal government would not have anything left to do. It's our job - mine and yours. Not Washington's.

Click HERE to read the full article.