Reagan Republicans?

[Flanders]

From what I knew about Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933) I concluded he was one of the good ones. How can you fault a guy who said “The business of America is business.” What he didn’t say is just as important. He did not say the business of America is coerced charity.

Happily, C. C. gets some praise in a biography titled Coolidge by Amity Shlaes. I’ve not read the book but two articles prompted me to put it on my ‘must read’ list. The first by George Will.

After dumping Karl Rove:

David Lane explains danger of the 'amoral Permanent Republican Majority'
Published: 12 hours ago
by DAVID LANE

The USS Rove must be sunk

future Republicans lusting after high office should embrace a Coolidge quote in Will’s article:

It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. Calvin Coolidge

For years I’ve been saying do not tell me what you’re going to do —— tell me what you will veto and mean it. Bush the Elder basically said he would veto new taxes when he promised “Read my lips: no new taxes.” Conservatives now know he did not mean it, or he did not have the guts to hang tough after he got to the White House.

The federal government might stop hemorrhaging respect if Congress tells government employee unions to embrace another quote from Will’s column:

There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time. Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, commander in brief
By George F. Will, February 13, 2013

Calvin Coolidge, commander in brief - Washington Post

R. Emmett Tyrrell’s piece primarily shows that C. C. knew a thing or two about the economy:

He reversed the economic insolvency of President Woodrow Wilson, and set the economy on the road to growth, a road made rocky by Cal’s successor, President Herbert Hoover, and rockier still by Hoover’s successor, Franklin Roosevelt.

XXXXX​

He even outdid President Ronald Reagan on the economy. Reagan inherited President Jimmy Carter’s anemic economy. He cut taxes and with Paul Volcker as his guide cut inflation. He put the economy on a growth curve for years thereafter. Yet, as Shlaes points out, he failed to reduce the deficit — though he did reduce it as a percentage of GDP — and he failed to cut the federal budget.

Coolidge did. In fact, he cut the top income tax rate to 25 percent, three percentage points lower than Reagan’s historic 1986 tax cuts, and the economy grew. Coolidge reduced the national debt from $28 billion to $17.65 billion with a combination of economies and tax cuts. He actually balanced the budget. When, in 1929, he returned to his Massachusetts home he left the federal budget smaller than it was when he had arrived in 1921. Of equal importance, the economy was now solidly growing.

The unemployment rate that was at 5.7 million in July 1921 had dropped to 1.8 million. Manufacturing had climbed by a third since 1921 and iron and steel production had doubled. Finally, the revenue acts of 1921, 1924, and 1928 represented strong growth despite tax reduction. Something was working.

End of the Coolidge Joke
By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 2.21.13 @ 6:09AM

The American Spectator : End of the Coolidge Joke

As much as I love Ronald Reagan the time has come for Tea Party conservatives to call themselves Coolidge Republicans.

 

[The Infidel]

If only folks would study his policies.

We need more Coolidge ideals in DC.

 

[midcan5]

More revisionist history from the corporate paid right wing ideologues.

When you read the history of the period Harding, Coolidge and Hoover led the US into the Great depression. You can argue causes till blue in the face, but the result is the same. You can also judge the politics of Reagan, the Bushs and even Clinton and you have the great recession. Check the similarities if you want to understand how economies bubble and crash. FDR, Truman, Eisenhower led to almost fifty years of prosperity, that is factual history. Building and making and buying American works, why is that so hard for corporate right wing ideologues to understand. Guess 'money' if you want a reason.

I want to revise this piece but it covers a bit of the history. http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/186726-republican-ideology-through-history-9.html#post5784628

http://www.usmessageboard.com/clean-debate-zone/277946-thank-a-liberal.html

 

[editec]

From what I knew about Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933) I concluded he was one of the good ones.

Well Hoover (same party) got elected after him so that's generally a sign that the the voters thought POTUS did a fair decent job.

Silent Cal wasn't entirely silent though when it comes to his successsor.

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."[150]

 

[there4eyeM]

"The business of America is business."

That is pointed to as praiseworthy? It's disgusting.

The business of America is protecting and expanding democratic ideals, human rights and the possibility to live a safe and happy life. It does not exist at the behest or service of avaricious corporations and immoral codes of financial conduct.

For America to be reduced to such a base purpose is absurd at best and diabolical at worst.

 

[Flanders]

FDR, Truman, Eisenhower led to almost fifty years of prosperity, that is factual history.

To midcan5: There was no prosperity in the FDR years until gearing up for WWII began. The prosperity in the rest of the time frame you refer to was real enough, but it was akin to demolishing a beautiful structure from the foundation up; the frame remains standing until the foundation is completely eroded away; then it comes crashing down. Hussein & Company are close to demolishing the last foundation pillar, the US Constitution.

If you do not care for my analogy remember that America’s political system was so strong it could only be destroyed incrementally over many decades. Note that the only difference between Socialists and Communists is how they get to totalitarian government. Socialists prefer doing it incrementally, Communists prefer violent revolution. The result is the same in both methods.

Incidentally, the beginning of socialism’s incremental transformation of this country going from a free people to a totalitarian collectivist society had as much to do with the Great Depression as did anything else. The enormous growth of the parasite class after the Great Depression ended contributed the most to today’s mess.

"The business of America is business."

That is pointed to as praiseworthy? It's disgusting.

The business of America is protecting and expanding democratic ideals, human rights and the possibility to live a safe and happy life. It does not exist at the behest or service of avaricious corporations and immoral codes of financial conduct.

For America to be reduced to such a base purpose is absurd at best and diabolical at worst.

To there4eyeM: How clever of you. You jump over individual liberties and constitutionally protected Rights in order to justify the parasite class that feeds on the very businesses you hate.

NOTE: Not one Right in the original Bill of Rights has to be paid for, while every “human right” parasites demand requires funding. Clearly, parasites don’t want Rights they want entitlements.

 

[Warrior102]

From what I knew about Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933) I concluded he was one of the good ones.

You probably loved Jimmy Carter too, nut sack

 

[there4eyeM]

"To there4eyeM: How clever of you. You jump over individual liberties and constitutionally protected Rights in order to justify the parasite class that feeds on the very businesses you hate."

It never ceases to amaze how people with a certain agenda can 'creatively' misinterpret English.

Any 'parasite class' my post could have referred to is the class of arrogant exploiters of America's freedoms to engorge themselves with destructive, virtual profits. Those are the only 'businesses' I hate. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the backbone of employment and community services. Mega corporations are the demise of these.

There was only the assertion of America's place in human existence in my words.

 

[Flanders]

From what I knew about Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933) I concluded he was one of the good ones.

You probably loved Jimmy Carter too, nut sack

To Warror102: How did you arrive at that conclusion?

President Calvin Coolidge's Tax And Spending Cuts Turned America Into A Lean Machine - Investors.com

"To there4eyeM: How clever of you. You jump over individual liberties and constitutionally protected Rights in order to justify the parasite class that feeds on the very businesses you hate."

It never ceases to amaze how people with a certain agenda can 'creatively' misinterpret English.

Any 'parasite class' my post could have referred to is the class of arrogant exploiters of America's freedoms to engorge themselves with destructive, virtual profits. Those are the only 'businesses' I hate. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the backbone of employment and community services. Mega corporations are the demise of these.

There was only the assertion of America's place in human existence in my words.

To there4eyeM: Another half-wit trying to be clever. Small business and entrepreneurs are driven by the same profit motive that drives big businesses. It’s called enlightened self-interest.

And in what universe are small businesses providing “community services” the parasites get from the welfare state?

 

[there4eyeM]

From what I knew about Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933) I concluded he was one of the good ones.

You probably loved Jimmy Carter too, nut sack

To Warror102: How did you arrive at that conclusion?

President Calvin Coolidge's Tax And Spending Cuts Turned America Into A Lean Machine - Investors.com

"To there4eyeM: How clever of you. You jump over individual liberties and constitutionally protected Rights in order to justify the parasite class that feeds on the very businesses you hate."

It never ceases to amaze how people with a certain agenda can 'creatively' misinterpret English.

Any 'parasite class' my post could have referred to is the class of arrogant exploiters of America's freedoms to engorge themselves with destructive, virtual profits. Those are the only 'businesses' I hate. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the backbone of employment and community services. Mega corporations are the demise of these.

There was only the assertion of America's place in human existence in my words.

To there4eyeM: Another half-wit trying to be clever. Small business and entrepreneurs are driven by the same profit motive that drives big businesses. It’s called enlightened self-interest.

And in what universe are small businesses providing “community services” the parasites get from the welfare state?

Invisible hands and enlightened self-interests and such are concepts of economics from the past. Experience has mostly taught that this self-interest is not at all enlightened. We are now in an age where any effective economic system is not going to look a lot like the past.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism in its most liberal sense, the ability to trade things with the use of 'money' in order to increase wealth. There is, in that assertion, the assumption that one understands 'wealth'. It is not synonymous with 'money'.

When people cannot see that too much is enough, the resulting social climate is poisoned.

 

[Friends]

FDR, Truman, Eisenhower led to almost fifty years of prosperity, that is factual history.

To midcan5: There was no prosperity in the FDR years until gearing up for WWII began. ]

There was nearly as much economic growth during the first term of Franklin Roosevelt as during the terms of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. There was considerably more job creation.

 

[Friends]

Calvin Coolidge was a boring, forgettable nonentity. Nevertheless, he did make statement that is worth remembering, "No one ever listened to himself out a job."

In a new social environment one should do much more listening than talking. One should avoid expressing attitudes that may not be well received.

 

[Flanders]

There was nearly as much economic growth during the first term of Franklin Roosevelt as during the terms of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. There was considerably more job creation.

To Friends. FDR created government jobs; i.e., the foundation for today’s parasite class.

Calvin Coolidge was a boring, forgettable nonentity. Nevertheless, he did make statement that is worth remembering, "No one ever listened to himself out a job."

In a new social environment one should do much more listening than talking. One should avoid expressing attitudes that may not be well received.

To Friends: The info I provided in the OP dismisses the charge of forgettable nonentity. I assume there is a lot more in Amity Shlaes’ biography of Coolidge.

And I’ll take an America-loving bore every time over “exciting” UN-loving traitors like Clinton and Hussein.

 

[Friends]

To Friends. FDR created government jobs; i.e., the foundation for today’s parasite class.

Government jobs got us out of the Great Depression. When the government hires people it creates better consumers. When these buy more employers in the private sector hire more to produce and sell what is produced.

During the eight years Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge were president the per capita gross domestic product in terms of 1996 dollars grew 29.19 percent.

During Franklin Roosevelt's first term the rate of growth was 33.7 percent.

Singularity is Near -SIN Graph - Per-Capita GDP

 

[Friends]

As much as I love Ronald Reagan...

During the presidency of Jimmy Carter an average of 2,600,000 jobs were created per year. Under Ronald Reagan this declined to 2,000,000 jobs per year.

Bush On Jobs: The Worst Track Record On Record - Real Time Economics - WSJ

The highest unemployment under Jimmy Carter was 7.8 percent. The highest under Ronald Reagan was 10.8 percent.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt

Under Jimmy Carter the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was paid down, as it had been since the presidency of Harry Truman. Under Ronald Reagan it more than doubled.

History of the United States public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The enduring legacy of Ronald Reagan was to imbue most white voters with the delusion that they can have the government they want without paying for it.

 

[Flanders]

Government jobs got us out of the Great Depression.

To Friends: No they didn’t. Instead of letting a normal boom and bust cycle run its course FDR’s government jobs became the foundation for today’s enormous parasite class.

Robber barons (greedy capitalists!) were blamed for the Great Depression. Today, the economic system FDR instituted is tearing the country apart because Democrats are desperately trying to stave off socialism’s coming bust until they find a way to blame it on everybody but the parasites.

Incidentally, take a look at what government jobs have become since FDR. Massive infrastructure projects were started and completed in a few years. Today, government parasites spend their entire work lives working on one short stretch of road —— then they retire on a fat pension for life. Worse still, the number of parasites hired for a federal or state government project is five to ten times higher that it was during the Great Depression, and that does not count make-work programs that build or produce nothing.

When the government hires people it creates better consumers. When these buy more employers in the private sector hire more to produce and sell what is produced.

To Friends: If that’s true why is unemployment so high? Why has the standard of living declined for private sector working Americans? Why is the purchasing power of the dollar falling apart while retail prices are skyrocketing?

The fact is that the government hires parasites who are absorbing the nation’s wealth, while feeding on private sector consumers and wealth-creators. By your own admission the government does not create wealth.

During the eight years Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge were president the per capita gross domestic product in terms of 1996 dollars grew 29.19 percent.

During Franklin Roosevelt's first term the rate of growth was 33.7 percent.

To Friends: Get real. FDR had no place to go except up. Even there he failed since 1938 was the worst year of the Great Depression. THAT WAS AFTER 6 YEARS OF FDR’s POLICIES. The private sector began to recover in 1939 because of the war in Europe.

During the presidency of Jimmy Carter an average of 2,600,000 jobs were created per year. Under Ronald Reagan this declined to 2,000,000 jobs per year.

The highest unemployment under Jimmy Carter was 7.8 percent. The highest under Ronald Reagan was 10.8 percent.

Under Jimmy Carter the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was paid down, as it had been since the presidency of Harry Truman. Under Ronald Reagan it more than doubled.

The enduring legacy of Ronald Reagan was to imbue most white voters with the delusion that they can have the government they want without paying for it.

To Friends: Even liberals were ashamed of Jimmy Peanuts in 1980; so I am not going to waste my time discussing his four year disaster in relation to Ronald Reagan.