I went fishing a few weeks ago on the Rapidan River in the Shenendoah. Not exactly a river more of a brooke or run but it did hold some beautiful native trout. This river is consider one of the best places in Virginia to catch native trout, which constantly face habitat pressure from acid rain and other human endeavors .

President Herbert Hoover, the 31st president also loved these streams and in 1929 he built a camp there. The camp consisting of 13 cabins served as retreat for the president especially during the Great Depression.  He used the cabin to entertain important figures have meetings, and of course to go fly fishing for trout. Images courtesy of the National Park Service.

Here is one of mine from the day, I apologize for the bad resolution cell phone pic. What the wild brooke trout lacks in size it makes up for in its colors and beauty.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

~George Santayana

“…CONCLUSION:
THE LESSONS OF MR. OBAMA’S RECORD

Mr. Obama met the challenge of the Obama Depression by acting quickly and decisively, indeed almost continuously throughout his term of office, putting into effect  “the greatest program of offense and defense” against depression ever attempted in America. Bravely he used every modern economic “tool,”  every device of progressive and “enlightened” economics, every facet of government planning, to combat the depression. For the first time, laissez-faire was boldly thrown overboard and every government weapon thrown into the breach. America had awakened, and was now ready to use the State to the hilt, unhampered by by the supposed shibboleths of laissez-faire. President Obama was a bold and audacious leader in this awakening. By every “progressive” tenet of our day he should have ended his term a conquering hero; instead he left America in utter and complete ruin: a ruin unprecedented in length and intensity.

What was the trouble? Economic theory demonstrates that only governmental inflation can generate a boom-and-bust cycle, and that the depression will be prolonged and aggravated by inflationist and other interventionary measures. In contrast to the myth of laissez-faire, we have shown in this book how government intervention generated the unsound boom of 2002-2007, and how Obama’s new departure aggravated the Obama Depression by massive measures of interference. The guilt for the Obama Depression must, at long last, be lifted from the shoulders of the free market economy, and placed where it properly belongs at the doors of politicians, bureaucrats, and the mass of “enlightened” economists. And in any other depression, past or future, the story will be same.”

~Murray Rothbard, America’s Obama Depression

President Obama’s economic policies repeat those of President Herbert Hoover, who the late economist Murray Rothbard was writing about. Just replace Obama with Hoover, Obama Depression with Great Depression, and 2002 to 2007 with 1920’s and you have the original quote. I am sure Murray would be laughing.

“The wavelike movement effecting the economic system, the recurrence of periods of boom which are followed by periods of depression is the unavoidable outcome of the attempts, repeated again and again, to lower the gross market rate of interest by means of credit expansion.”

~Ludwig von Mises

Economics and Moral Courage

Why You’ve Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920

Why the Meltdown Should Have Surprised No One

Keynesian Economics: The Beast That Won’t Die

The Future of Austrian Economics

The Current State of World Affairs

John Maynard Keynes: Hero or Villain? Part 1

John Maynard Keynes: Hero or Villain? Part 2

John Maynard Keynes: Hero or Villain? Part 3

John Maynard Keynes: Hero or Villain? Part 4

Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle

The Life and Work of Ludwig von Mises

Related Posts On Pronk Palisades

Economists

The Battle For The World Economy–Videos

Frederic Bastiat–The Law–Videos

Yaron Brook–Videos

Friedrich Hayek–Videos

Milton Friedman–Videos

Milton Friedman on Education–Videos

Ludwig von Mises–Videos

The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and The Ideas of Ayn Rand

Peter Schiff–Videos

Schiff, Forbers and Bloomberg Nail The Financial Crisis and Recession–Mistakes Were Made–Greed, Arrogance, Stupidity–Three Chinese Curses!

L. William Seidman on The Economic Crisis: Causes and Cures–Videos

Amity Shlaes–Videos

Julian Simon–Videos

Thomas Sowell and Conflict of Visions–Videos

Thomas E. Woods, Jr.–Videos

Banking Cartel’s Public Relations Campaign Continues:Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke On The Record

The administration has apparently ditched Keynesian economics in favor of Philistine economics, calling for a domestic spending freeze or even spending cuts in the midst of double-digit unemployment.

The Associated Press has the story here.

Focusing on deficit reduction during a depression did not work for Herbert Hoover in 1932, and I’m at a loss to see why Obama’s economists are embracing spending cuts now.  The article does quote budget director Peter Orszag as saying cutting spending too fast could undermine the recovery, so I can only hope that they do not mean to make these cuts until recovery is well underway.  Given the dim prospects for a rapid recovery, the economy may not be ready to absorb any deep spending cuts for many years to come.

Perhaps a better analogy than Hoover in 1932 is Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936-37.  At that time the U.S. economy had been recovering for about four years (after bottoming out in early 1933) but was still in depression, with unemployment above 9%.  But FDR, deciding it was time to focus on the budget deficit instead of the economy, cut spending and raised taxes (as the Fed doubled bank reserve requirements to soak up the vast excess reserves out there — which also sounds like a recent conversation), and the economy nosedived.  Had FDR and the Fed been less leery of deficits and excess reserves, the depression might not have lasted until World War II.

UPDATE, 18 November 2009:  Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns, writing on the Naked Capitalism site, makes a similar argument with a lot more detail.

UPDATE, 21 November 2009: Krugman has an excellent piece on the matter here, and a “wonkier” one on deficits and interest rates here.

By the way, I changed the heading from “Barack Hoover Roosevelt?” to the current one, because FDR is so widely associated with pro-active steps like the Works Progress Administration and other jobs programs, fixing and reforming the banking and financial system, and ending the early-’30s deflation by going off the gold standard.  While his budget-balancing disaster of 1936-37 and his too-small budget deficits in other years show that he was no Keynesian when it came to fiscal policy, I’d be delighted to see Obama commit to policies that created three million relief jobs per year, as FDR did.  The stimulus is creating a fraction of that number, which seems unsurprising considering that the job creation is indirect:  rather than create new agencies to directly employ workers in various projects, the government is handing out money to lucky companies in the hope that they’ll hire people.  The fear of creating new federal government employees seems even stronger than the fear of deficits.

I investigate words, allusions, metaphors and such that catch my interest.

Best Word of the Day yet from my dictionary.com e-newsletter:

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:

Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
– Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 – which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
– “It’s just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday”, Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

Despite NASA’s seemingly ingrained case of triskaidekaphobia, which forced managers to impose the bizarre, ‘13-free’ numbering system on its flights, the crew of perhaps the most important Shuttle mission to date clearly were unsure if STS-41C was supposed to be unlucky or not.
– Ben Evans, Space Shuttle Challenger: Ten Journeys into the Unknown

Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes¹:

• Napoleon
• Herbert Hoover
• Mark Twain
• Richard Wagner
• Franklin Roosevelt

1. Source: “It’s just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday,” Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

Be warned, triskaidekaphobes, there’s a Friday the Thirteenth coming in November!

Become a fan of Dictionary.com on Facebook.
Word of the Day, interesting words, Dictionary.com news, and more!

I also twitter Mr. Dictionary to learn about the birth of new words. Always interesting!

After over 70 years, the Tennessee Valley Authority is going stronger than ever.  Beginning with providing electricity and regional economic development, TVA now hosts a plethora of resources.

TVA Today (just a few):  http://www.tva.gov/

* Power system~ largest utility maintenance facility, affordable power, nuclear energy, fossil fuel production, hydroelectric power

*Environmentally friendly~ clean air program, green power- SOLAR, native plants are used for landscaping

*River system~ flood damage reduction, affordable, water supply, water quality, economic growth

Hoover’s idea of the TVA was continued by FDR.  All parties involved felt that this program would quickly modernize that regions economy and their society as a result.

FDR had four goals in mind when setting out to complete the TVA project.

1.  All homes and farms to have electricity

2.  All homes to use more electricity, which would give Americans a “better standard of living”

3.  The average consumer would have reduced costs

4.  (Short-term goal)  The electricity industry would help the New Deal to create a more affluent society

Opposers of the TVA were businessmen in the financial world that were run out of Wall Street.  Alfred Lee Loomis was an extraordinary scientist & financer.  He felt that the TVA “would destroy the business world” (FM p.174)  The American people may resent the project since it started with Herbert Hoover.  Hoover is still one of the least popular presidents ever.  Today, opposers of the TVA feel like the plant will be too bright.  One man said he feels like he “won’t need a yard light anymore” and that it might be a beacon “for terrorists”.

Architects understand the magnitude of their creations and like any creator, see the project growing throughout the process.   I think the architects fully understood the magnitude of what they were doing as the plans began to reveal themselves.  Of course it would have been hard to envision at first, since nothing of that stature existed.  However, as their plans developed, the architects had to have seen the magnificence of the project.

“True investments” are, in my opinion, for the future.  If the government spends money on something that will better my present and my children’s future, then that is a true investment.  The government can spend money on a federal or state/local level.  The two types of Federal spending are discretionary and mandatory.  Discretionary makes people nervous and the mandatory spending angers people.  Discretionary spending, like the Army, FBI, Coast Guard and highway projects, make people nervous about how much money and why.  What wrench really costs $30,000?  Really?  The Army is getting tons of money for “secret” projects, but not all soldiers have bulletproof vests?  Really?  And why isn’t that money being spent on research for impact-proof military vehicles?  Since it seems a majority of the deaths and maiming are from roadside and suicide bombs.  We are spending tons of money on medical treatment (mental and physical), disability and death than the protection.  Really?  Makes me nervous, too.  Mandatory spending makes people angry because the government either gives too much money away (remember when Welfare was paid per child and unlimited?), or not enough (Medicare).  As long as the government is using the money in the right places and for the right reasons for the right amounts, that is a true investment.

Here, Obama & George debate whether or not the change in health care is a tax increase.  Obama feels that all people should have health insurance.  That the American people should not have to pay for the uninsured. 

Guess what you might get when you put  fifteen competitive young adults, with five weeks of nutrition education and cooking practice,  into a cooking challenge!  The actual result- delicious, creative treats!  At least the middle school students at Hazelwood South East cooked up some great surprises when challenged to compete among one another in an Iron Chef Challenge.  Some of the favorites include; Apple and Walnut Granola Bars, Strawberry French Toast and Spicy Turkey Tacos.

Throughout the six week course, the class of fifteen 11-13 year olds was divided into two groups that worked together each week to create a healthy meal by following OFL recipes.  Students learned how to make about ten dishes with the guidance of their instructors, such as  pizza from scratch, tortilla lasagna, chocolate granola bars and apple/yogurt salad.   All participants of  ’Power of Eating Right’  receive their own bag of ingredients to take home each week in order to recreate the recipes they’ve learned and to expand their cooking skills.   After the first class, several participants  ”hid” their bags of goodies from the eyes of their parents so that they could surprise their families with pizza for dinner!

For the final class, students were surprised to find out that there would be no recipes to follow.  They were challenged to work with their groups to create a breakfast, dinner and dessert that would be judged on creativity, taste, healthy ingredient choices and presentation.  In addition to the judging standards, the teams had to use a grain ingredient in each dish and had to be finished within an hour!

President Hoover’s initial response to the market crash was listening to his then Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, who advocated liquidation within the market.  Of course it does seem to depend on which historian or biographer you talk to about whether or not this was true, but either way looking in from the outside, it sure didn’t seem like President Hoover was advocating any other ideas.  Mellon’s “liquidation” thesis was allowing the weaker banks to fail, and some not-so-weak banks, one of which was the Bank of United States.  I am torn about this theory of Mellon’s.  A few economists of our day think that the Federal Government stepping in and rescuing the bigger institutions this time around has just set our economy up for a bigger blow out down the road.  The biggest reason for this thinking is no lasting reforms – see MarketPlace. So it’s with this mentality that I can understand letting the weaker banks fail but then the ‘what ifs’ crop up.  ’What if’ the Federal Reserve, or even the executive branch, which is what happened later under Roosevelt (see Chapter 5 of “The Forgotten Man”), had stepped in?  I wonder how different the banking system and economy would be now.

It was Hoover’s belief in self-reliance and volunteerism that brought about his public works programs in response to what was happening across the United States.  He understood that the average American citizen at that time didn’t really want handouts from the Federal government.  I’m sure what he witnessed during 1927 Mississippi flood spoke volumes about American resiliency and our nation’s pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap mentality.

Another form of Hoover’s belief in volunteerism materialized within the banking industry.  In 1931 President Hoover called on all major banks across the country to form a “consortium” called “National Credit Corporation”.  The idea was to get the larger banks to make loans to the smaller ones keeping them from failing, but the smaller banks were made to jump through hoops and offer “their largest assets as collateral” (Wikipedia).  Sound familiar?  This practice of course showed the President and the banking system that they were basically unable or unwilling to help themselves, and the government stepped in with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

The policies that seemed the most beneficial was the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for shoring up failing banks but also the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and bankruptcy law reforms.

Link: Hoover’s statement at signing of Federal Home Loan Bank Act

In hind-sight I think one of the most damaging policy that Hoover adopted after the crash was the change to his press policy and personal access.  Before the crash he held “more regular and frequent press conferences than any other President,” but after the crash “screened reporters and greatly reduced his availability” (Wikipedia).  See graph from University of Minnesota’s “Smart Politics”

Reading the material and remembering how each candidate reacted to the downward spiral of our current economy there are parallels.  In my mind then-Senator Obama showed he was a man of movement and it was his comment about a President being able to work and focus on more than one thing at a time that brought that picture home.  While Senator McCain suspended his campaign entirely making himself appear panicked and unable to deal with an unforeseen crisis.  See story that ran in Tucson Citizen concerning this.  President Obama is Roosevelt while Senator McCain is guaranteed the role of Hoover.  Just as Hoover’s public persona towards the depression cost him the election of 1932 so did McCain’s reaction to our present economy was one of the things cost him the office.

Finally, I found yet another interesting site concerning President Hoover and the various policies he tried from 1929 until he left office: “The Hoover New Deal of 1932″ at Ludwig von Mises Institute in Austria.

Hoover’s Quaker background cannot be understated.  Both Hoover and Nixon, our only other Quaker President, believed deeply in the Quaker principles of peace and equality for everyone.  There is a strong Quaker tradition of caring for others, which marked Hoover as a life-long public servant and humanitarian.   “As Secretary of Commerce, he created the Child Health Association (1923), organized the Street and Highway Safety Commission (1924), developed new foreign markets for American goods, and advocated bureaucratic efficiency. He aided manufacturing by pioneering standardization of parts and materials for paper, automobiles, plumbing, carpentry and other industries. His engineering background helped him become a brilliant organizer, but his shyness and squeaky voice hampered him in public life.”    http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

They say timing is everything, and in Hoover’s case, it would seem so.  Hoover had just begun his term as President when the stock market crashed in 1929, and it knocked the United States into an unprecedented economic depression with global ramifications. It is perplexing to me that Hoover is criticized for not taking enough action at the time…. “…he started many of the programs which put the country on the road to recovery: the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Federal Farm Board, the Agricultural Marketing Act (stabilized prices) and the Federal Home Loan Bank. Hoover also initiated massive public works projects such as the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Boulder (Hoover) and Grand Coulee Dams, and Mississippi flood control projects. It was not Roosevelt but Hoover who first accepted defeating the depression as a governmental responsibility. But it took time before these initiatives could affect the economic situation.”  http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

The Presidency is a supreme obligation. I conceived of the Presidency as more than an administrative office: it is a power for leadership bringing coordination of the forces of business and cultural life in every city, town and countryside. The Presidency is more than executive responsibility. It is the symbol of America’s highest purpose. The President must represent the nation’s ideals and he must also represent them to the nations of the world.
- Herbert Hoover, 1932  http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

From that day forward [1914] Hoover never accepted for his private use a dollar in payment for any of his manifold public services. He paid his own travel and out-of-pocket expenses. His salaries as Secretary of Commerce, and then as President, went into a special fund for disbursement in full for charitable causes, to raise wages of aides who needed it, or to pay for expert personnel not provided by official budgets. Money that came to him for writing or speaking went likewise to private charity and public causes.
Eugene Lyons, Hoover Biographer   http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

The [Federal Reserve] Board knew that Mr. Hoover, from 1926 on, had been protesting that the money policy of the Reserve System was certain to bring about disaster and calamity. Mr. Hoover before and after he took office was struggling desperately to curb credit extravagance. … The record will show that he became the victim of a policy that was anathema to him the whole time it was in operation.
- Adolph C. Miller, member of the Federal Reserve Board, 1935  http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

And here’s a quote from Nixon on the impact his Quaker background had on him:   Friends believe in doing their own thing, not making a display of religion…… I suppose Quakerism just strengthened my own temperament here. I’m an introvert in an extrovert profession.
- Richard Nixon, 1972    http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p1112.html

In the loud, brash, promotional world of politics, Hoover was a man of quiet temperament and strong character with a highly intelligent, analytical mind who believed in courage and humility.  It is unfortunate that some historians paint Hoover as the “fall guy”.  He was not only weighed down by the times he lived in, he simply did not have the charismatic weight to market himself better.  I have a new respect for this man, and the positive impact he had on our country.  Hoover was a  great humanitarian leader who was simply overwhelmed by the events of his time.

Last week we explored the stock market crash of 1929 and many of the events surrounding that time.  Moving forward, this week we will consider the presidency of Herbert Hoover and how his administration responded to the unfolding crisis.  Specifically:

1.  Consider President Hoover’s response shortly after the market crash.

2.  What positions did President Hoover adopt?

3.  Which policies appear to have been at least partially beneficial?

4.  In hind-sight, which policies where at best counter-productive and at worst extremely damaging?

5.  Consider our most recent presidential election and the concerns raised by both parties regarding the importance of not making the same mistakes twice.

In your discussion, be sure to point to key elements from our reading and share any additional resources you may find.  Below are several short videos you may find interesting:

By Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search, Inc.
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com

A couple of weeks ago I posed the following question on the Civil Engineering Central Group on Linkedin:

“Why did you become a civil engineer?”

We had a number of great responses, but one gentleman posted the following excerpt that is worth sharing to the masses:

Herbert Hoover’s Engineer

It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerges through the aid of science to plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comfort of life. That is the engineer’s high privilege.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot like the architect cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot like the politician screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work he is dammed.

On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort and hope. No doubt as years go by the people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician put his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people’s money….

But the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness which flows from his success with satisfaction that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants.

Did Herbert Hoover miss anything here? Do you believe his statement still holds true today?

civil engineering jobs :: civil engineering resumes :: civil engineering blog :: civil engineering discussion

I bought a fat pack of the new American Heritage, and here’s what I got:

16 cards per pack

51 Civil Rights Movement- Heroic Movement

6 Boyd “Buzz” Wagner- US Army Air Corps Lt. Colonel

57 American Red Cross- Heroic Group

59 ASPCA- Heroic Group

125 Flight 93- Event

118 Battle of Guadalcanal- Event

110 Lewis & Clark Expedition- Event

MOH-43 William Halford Medal of Honor (1:2 fat packs)

141 Barack Obama/Abraham Lincoln SP (1:4)

HJ-7 Lincoln Makes Presidential Bid A Hero’s Journey (1:4?  Cannot remember)

77 Herbert Hoover- Humanitarian

93 August Wilson- Playwright

43 Det. Frank Serpico- Finest (Police)

95 John Steinbeck- Novelist

27 Mary McLeod Bethune- Founder: Bethune-Cookman University

23 Sojourner Truth- Writer/Abolitionist

I really like these.  Even my little brother thought some of them were pretty cool.  This, I believe, is a set worth building.  I’d like to get the previous set too.  Historical stuff geeks me the f*** out.

I also have a few more Chrome for trade (must…stop…buying):

Base- 32 Mark Teixeira, 37 Carlos Delgado (horrendously off-center), 47 Even Longoria, 51 James Shields, 61 Conor “I’m too cool for a second n in my first name” Jackson, 102 Mark “my last name makes spellcheck ’splode” Buehrle, 105 Jeff Francis, 119 Hank Blalock (horrendously off-center), 135 Chipper Jones, 143 Adrian Gonzalez, 184 Shairon Martis Nationals RC (Horrendously off-center), 206 Brad Nelson Brewers RC

Refractors- 36 Juan Pierre

X-Fractors- 217 Brett Cecil Blue Jays RC

PS: @Wicked Ortega- Did you get the two emails I sent?

PS2: LOL, I just realized the irony of pulling the Napoleon Bonaparte mini a few posts ago…

…But maybe President Obama is instead the next Herbert Hoover? Studying the policies pursued by the Hoover Administration in the wake of the 1929 crash, UCLA economist Lee Ohanian found that a strong recession became the Great Depression because of Hoover’s pro-labor, statist interventions:

Pro-labor policies pushed by President Herbert Hoover after the stock market crash of 1929 accounted for close to two-thirds of the drop in the nation’s gross domestic product over the two years that followed, causing what might otherwise have been a bad recession to slip into the Great Depression, a UCLA economist concludes in a new study.

“These findings suggest that the recession was three times worse — at a minimum — than it would otherwise have been, because of Hoover,” said Lee E. Ohanian, a UCLA professor of economics.

The policies, which included both propping up wages and encouraging job-sharing, also accounted for more than two-thirds of the precipitous decline in hours worked in the manufacturing sector, which was much harder hit initially than the agricultural sector, according to Ohanian.

“By keeping industrial wages too high, Hoover sharply depressed employment beyond where it otherwise would have been, and that act drove down the overall gross national product,” Ohanian said. “His policy was the single most important event in precipitating the Great Depression.”

The findings are slated to appear in the December issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Economic Theory and were posted today on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org) as a working paper.

The article goes on to point out that Hoover’s exact solutions are not likely to be followed by President Obama. However, Ohanian argues, the disastrous results of Hoover’s interventions illustrate what can happen when government pursues hasty, ill-advised policies. Everything Hoover tried only made things worse.

By 1939 Roosevelt’s own Treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau, had realized that the New Deal economic policies had failed. “We have tried spending money,” Morgenthau wrote in his diary. “We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. . . . After eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. . . . And an enormous debt to boot!”

PS. Sorry for the bad formatting, but something in this post is killing the spaces between paragraphs.

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Voor wie nog altijd zichzelf en zijn/haar al even vrome medemensen graag pleziert met zijn/haar welgemeend en breed uitgesmeerd medelijden met de hongerende kindertjes in Afrika  én de daaraan gekoppelde mededeling dat hij/zij 100 of 250 euro heeft overgeschreven op de rekening van een zogenaamde humanitaire organisaties, genre Artsen Zonder Grenzen of de rest van de bataclan (uiteraard na eerst gecheckt te hebben in hoeverre de gift fiscaal aftrekbaar is), voor wie dus nog gelooft dat menslievendheid de drijvende kracht is achter al dat humanitarianisme (een even dwaze ideologie als om het even welke andere), raad ik aan het levensverhaal van Herbert Hoover te lezen, USA-president van 1929 tot 1933. U hoeft zich niet verplicht te voelen uiteraard, dus verwijt me niets. Ik raad alleen maar aan. Wie weet wordt Bernard Kouchner niet de volgende Franse president, wanneer Sarko te veel van zijn kruit verschoten heeft bij zijn Carla Bruni?

Herbert Hoover is geen onbekende in de Belgische geschiedenis. In de jaren van de Eerste Wereldoorlog en het daarop volgend tumult in Europa (de Russische Revolutie en zo) maakte hij (hij was toen al een schatrijke ondernemer) faam als organizator van een ganse reeks humanitaire interventies in het alom noodlijdende Europa, van de streek aan de Noordzee tot diep in Rusland: voedselleveringen en zo. Hij had zich namelijk, uiteraard uit zuivere menslievendheid, weten te benoemen tot directeur van de American Relief Administration.

In de officiële Belgische geschiedenis gaat Herbert Hoover door voor een gulle kindervriend en weldoener. Hij stond tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog aan het hoofd van het Committee for Relief in Belgium (CRB). Na de Duitse invasie heerste namelijk nogal wat hongersnood bij ons en dat CRB stond in voor voedselleveringen. Hoewel ik nooit veel geweten heb over dat CRB, leefde ik, zoals blijkbaar iedereen, in de overtuiging dat wij voedsel en kleren geschonken kregen (op basis namelijk van de particuliere schenkingen én de USA overheidssubsidies  aan dat American Relief gedoe). Al verschiet ik van niets meer, toch keek ik even op wanneer ik deze nacht in een boek van de Amerikaanse, vanzelfsprekend voor “vuile communist” doorgaande, historicus Michael Parenti las dat de American Relief Administration en dat CRB helemaal niets hebben gegeven aan onze arme hongerlijdende Belgen van toen (9 miljoen Belgen zouden volgens Wikipedia genoten hebben van de menslievendheid van dat CRB). Zij verkochten voedsel tegen cash geld, aan oorlogsprijzen dan nog, terwijl zij zelf het voedselaanbod hadden gekocht op de internationale open markten. “Belgium was drained of funds in exchange for food. Among the Belgians who could not pay, drastic shortages arose by 1916, followed by hunger riots among the poorer classes.” (Michael Parenti History as Mystery. San Francisco, City  Lights Books, 1999, p. 257).

Voor de maniakken die het verder willen uitpluizen: Parenti verwijst naar de werken van John Knox The Great Mistake: Can Herbert Hoover Explain His Past? (Baltimore, Grace Press, 1932) en John Hamill The Strange Career of Mr. Hoover under Two Flags (New York, William Faro, 1931).

De ouders uit mijn kindertijd hadden gelijk toen ze ons toesnauwden (ik ben er onbegrijpelijk en dus hoogst ongelukkig van bespaard gebleven): “Zijt ge weeral een boek aan het lezen?” Je wordt er inderdaad alleen maar slechter van.

Onwetendheid is geen argument, schreef Spinoza al ergens in zijn leven tussen 1632 en 1677. Maar dat was nog in de tijd toen we nog niet beschikten over de heilzame kennis van de kinderpsychiatrie. Die is by the way al even menslievend als die Hoover.

Tenslotte voor de quizzers en de deelnemers aan De Slimste Mens: heeft die Herbert Hoover iets van doen met de Hoover-stofzuigers (kleine mogelijk misleidende hint: die waren vanaf 1912 in België te koop)?
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ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: “If Quizzes are Quizzical, Are Tests Testicle?”
1. slightly lower
2. Elephantiasis
3. orchid
4. avocado
5. testify
6. Cat
7. Ram or goat
8. Clinton, Montana
9. eye lid
10. 20 and 34.

THIS WEEK’S QUIZ:  “Timeline History of Television”

Inventors in the 19th century speculated on the idea of instruments that would allow people to “see by electricity.” In 1881, an article in Nature magazine surmised that although the idea of transmitting images over great distances could one day be possible, it wondered if the idea deserved “further expense and trouble.”

Jump cut forward: While early television sets from the 1920s had blurry flickering images, technology showed steady signs of improving into the 1930s although the images were still fuzzy. World War II meant that TV was still a rarity for the American family until after 1945 when sales jumped 500% between then and 1948. Before we knew it, we were watching cable TV stations in the 1980s, and then 42% of TV stations were digital by June 2009.

Here’s a timeline history of some of television’s landmark events in programming and technology, with a sprinkling of fascinating facts and goofy quirks.

1. In the early 1920s scientists in the United States and United Kingdom demonstrated the ability to transmit still photos and moving silhouettes using what method?
Microwaves
Radio waves
Sonar
UV rays
X-rays

2. April 7, 1927: The first public broadcast on TV in the United States. Whose voice and image was broadcast?
Al Jolson
Calvin Coolidge
Charlie Chaplin
Charles Lindbergh
Herbert Hoover

3. In 1928, General Electric broadcast what might be considered the first TV drama using a spinning disk and bright lamp to create blurry, off-center images of actors smoking cigarettes while carousing around Europe. In truth, those actors were not in Europe but were instead where?
Boston, Massachusetts
Burbank, California
Hollywood, California
Schenectady, New York
West Orange, New Jersey

4. While regular nationwide TV broadcasts started around 1939, it was in 1947, when the very first TV couple to share a bed appeared on what television show? [The next couple to do so is thought by many to be the animated couple, the Flintstones in the 1960's.]
“Café Continental”
“Cash and Carry”
“Kraft Television Theater”
“Mary Kay and Johnny”
“The World In Your Home”

5. In 1950, which NBC TV show first made use of the laugh track?
“The Alan Dale Show”
“The Goldbergs”
“The Hank McCune Show”
“The Morey Amsterdam Show”
“Your Show of Shows”

6. The color television set first swept the country in 1954. By what year did color TV sales overtake Black and White sets?
1955
1960
1966
1972
1978

7. Initial versions of the TV remote control were still attached to the television set with a cable. It wasn’t until what year that the wireless remote control was invented?
*1955
1963
1970
1977
1985

8. By 1960, what percentage of households in the United States had a television set?
7%
27%
47%
67%
87%

9. In what year did the VCR replace the previous technology of open-reel home video systems?
1962
1967
1972
1977
1982

10. In 1983 what TV show aired the most-watched television series finale in history with almost 106 million Americans watching?
All in The Family
Dallas
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
M*A*S*H
Seinfeld

11. These days there are TV sets in about 110 million American households, and revenue from television broadcasting, cable, TV advertising, and TV-set sales totaled how much money in 2006?
$1.82 billion
$18.2 billion
$182 billion
$1.82 trillion
$18.2 trillion

12. The renewal of the contract for the show The Simpsons in 2009 meant that it would soon overtake which show as the longest-running prime-time scripted TV series?
ABC’s The Danny Thomas Show
CBS’s Gunsmoke
CBS’s Lassie
NBC’s Bonanza
NBC’s Law & Order

ANSWERS WILL APPEAR NEXT MONDAY. But if you really want to know the answers now, go to:  http://www.sploofus.com/triviaquiz/timeline_history_of_television.html

It’s a great trivia web site, and if you join up please mention my user name “billkozy” as a referral, so that I get lots of points worth no money whatsoever. Just bragging rights I guess.

US President Herbert Hoover, June 1930:

“The depression is over.”

On This Date in History: On this date in 1948, Candid Camera debuted. Its creator, Allen Funt, had originally run the program for radio. It would be a pretty boring show if it relied on a camera so it was called Candid Microphone. Here is a sample of a Candid Microphone episode with Bela Lugosi (part1) (part 2)He took the concept to TV but for the first season he kept the name Candid Microphone. Candid Camera is much catchier and made more sense for TV and it was probably pretty fortunate for Funt that he wised up. With the Internet and camera phones, the concept lives on today but in its day, Candid Camera provided some of the funniest moments in television history. If you think about it, Funt really created reality TV. So I guess we can blame him for Big Brother.

Happy Birthday Herbie

When we hear the name Allen Funt, we think of “smile.” People usually don’t think of smiling when they hear the name Herbert Hoover, but perhaps they should. Hoover was born on this date in 1874. He is best known for holding the presidency during the first part of the Great Depression. He had been elected in 1928 amidst the “Roaring Twenties.” During his first year in office, the stock market crashed, the global economy collapsed and he was left being held accountable as many Americans faulted him for not doing anything. Its rather ironic that he is seen as a failure during a time of crisis because he seemed well suited for the task. Hoover in 1914 is credited with organizing efforts that brought 120,000 Americans home from Europe in six weeks time at the outset of the Great War.

Hoover responsible for feeding millions

In 1917, President Wilson appointed him as head of the Food Administration.  He is called in some circles as “the great humanitarian.”  He managed to cut food consumption at home, feed the troops overseas while not resorting to food rationing for Americans. After the War, Hoover is credited with organizing and implementing a massive food lift to Europe.

Millions of Children May Have Lived Because of Herbert Hoover

Many scholars point to Hoover’s efforts through 1921 as being the key to saving the lives of millions of Europeans who otherwise would have starved as the war had decimated agricultural production on the other side of the pond. He faced the task of feeding over 20 million people, many of them children, and he rose to the occasion and got the job done. That is why its rather curious that such a man would fall short in the Depression. But it really wasn’t his fault and while many people credit FDR with pulling the US out of the Depression, many scholars argue that it was war time production with the massive governmental spending that ended the depression. Nevertheless, many people had smiles in the face of despair in the early 20th century because Herbert Hoover was born on this date in 1874. I think history has been quite unkind to him.

Invest 99L Forecast Track 6z 08.10.09

Invest 99L Satellite 1315Z 08.10.09

In The Atlantic:  A tropical cyclone (Invest 99L) is trying to get itself going and it probably will become the first tropical storm of the season.  A goodly number of the models indicate that, but not too many take it into the hurricane category any time soon.  That makes sense because it is very far south. It came off of Africa at 12 N. It’s tough to get a circulation going that far south.  That’s what impressed me about this and why it caught my attention right away as it appeared to have some potential right out of the gate.  But, I also mentioned the trof that was over the US for so long and how it had moved out into the Atlantic.  I think the remnant of that will be influencing this guy a bit as it is forecast to track pretty far northwest. Almost too far northwest for it to be considered a likely threat to the US.  Not impossible, but tough to do.  There is a lot of ocean and coriolis forces alone will want to turn it to the right.  Many models continue it on a northwest track and into the north central Atlantic.  Again, that makes some sense due to the general trofiness.  But, lets lay out this scenario:  It does exactly that then gets caught up in the ridge over the eastern US which is expanding into the Atlantic, moves southwest for a time and then west around the ridge.  That’ why this guy is worth watching.

SPC Severe Threat Today and Tonight

SPC Severe Threat Tomorrow and Tomorrow Night

Weather Bottom Line:  I saw a weather foof on TV this weekend say that the jet stream was going to dive down this week and bring us cooler weather.  Nonsense.  There is a short wave coming across bringing a slight dip in the jet and there will be a weak front.  We have lots of warm moist unstable air.  So, the lead short will initiate big storms this afternoon out west.  We may get the line this evening…probably on the downside of life but the potential energy in our atmosphere may keep them going.  Then the front comes on Tuesday.  When I checked the parameters, the GFS was pretty bullish late in the day on Tuesday with the NAM typically not as agressive.  The GFS even had the SWEAT parameters up into the range in which one might look for twisters.  So, look for the chance for storms this evening with maybe a few troublemakers.  Then look for a better chance for strong storms on Tuesday.  Both models want to continue off and on showers through Thursday.  This is due to the weak front hanging around, so any cooler temperatures we get will be due to clouds and showers, not a change in the jetstream.  With that it mind, it should remain pretty humid and we’ll get back to seasonal temperatures when the threat for showers winds up later in the week.  Rain totals for the first two days both indicate around an inch with about an inch and half total through Thursday.

Every summer, Slate Magazine runs an article originally written back in 2001 in which the author, David Plotz, proposes banning the month of August.

David Plotz: Just not that into August

“August is the Mississippi of the calendar,” Plotz says. “It’s beastly hot and muggy. It has a dismal history. Nothing good ever happens in it. And the United States would be better off without it.”

Plotz goes on to cite numerous reasons why August blows. Highlights include:

• August is when the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• The month is the “vast sandy wasteland of American culture. Publishers stop releasing books. Movie theaters are clogged with the egregious action movies that studios wouldn’t dare release in June. Television is all reruns.”

They formed in August. But don't hold that against August.

• Wings and Jefferson Airplane formed in August.

• The people with August birthdays are “a sorry bunch,” Plotz says. They include: Herbert Hoover, Danny Bonaduce, Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford, Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat. (At the time of writing the original piece, Plotz likely could not have known of another, far more significant August birth: Barack Obama.)

Plotz does acknowledge some positives about the much maligned eighth month: “Richard Nixon resigned in August. MTV launched in August. And Jerry Garcia died in August.”

But he concludes that “the United States desperately needs August Reform.” His suggestion?

The U.S. cede the first 10 days of August back to July, thus extending holiday revelry for more than a week. September would claim the last 10 days of August, mollifying the folks who can’t wait to get back to serious work … August itself will keep 10 days. That is just enough: Every summer we’ll be able to toot happily, “Gosh, August went by so quickly this year!”

Plotz’s point is well taken – there’s plenty to detest about August. And I can’t deny that it’s the point at which you really start to feel you’re in the dog days of summer.

Given that it’s the month of my birth, however – and I certainly don’t believe I’m part of the aforementioned “sorry bunch” – I feel compelled to offer a vigorous defence of August. Turns out there is some redeeming stuff Plotz neglected to mention:

Caesar Augustus: They named a month after him.

For starters, August is named after Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, which is pretty awesome. It is also an adjective that means respected and impressive; characterized by majestic dignity or grandeur; inspiring reverence and admiration. I’d like to see November or April beat that. You can’t say, ‘I’m in March company,’ or, ‘She comes from January lineage.’ And what does February mean, anyway?

The Woodstock Festival marks its 40th anniversary this August. Woodstock was the apotheosis of the hippie movement/flower power before it crashed and burned (or was stabbed to death) at Altamont a few months later. While I can’t pretend to appreciate the significance of all those naked ”earth children” blitzed on LSD dancing in the mud, this “Aquarian Exposition” nevertheless symbolized an era of social revolution, and featured legendary performances from, among others, Santana, Janis Joplin, The Who, Joe Cocker and of course, Jimi Hendrix:

But wait, there’s more. Apparently August  is a great month for star gazing and meteor showers, including the Perseid meteor shower.

The blog Day Trading Freedom argues that August is also an ideal time for new stock traders to get started, with most of the hardcore wheelers and dealers taking off on their private yachts, swimming in pools of money or whatever else it is that fat cats do on holidays. As the blog notes:

With those big players out of the picture, volume drops, and things just take longer to happen on the chart, with fewer shares being traded. Trading off slow moving stock charts is like learning to ride a bike with training wheels on – it makes things easier. You get extra time to think about what you’re doing.

If all that weren’t enough, The Driffield Times in the UK informs us that:

Butterflies are at their best in August.

August is great for butterflies as your shrubs flourish – buddleia in particular is a butterfly magnet and will be teeming … and look out for the hummingbird hawk moth this month – fuschias, honeysuckle and many other common garden plants will attract them and they are simply stunning.

A Roman emperor namesake, flower power, star gazing, virgin stock-trading and butterflies: I’d say those are some compelling reasons to love August. If you can think of any others, feel free to share.

After all, those of us who value this exquisite late summer month must band together to thwart David Plotz in his diabolical quest to eliminate it.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

I was an elegant baby, born three
short months before the crash, but never did
I beg or want, or keep my horses from
their oats, or sell their gleaming coats for cash.

I was an elegant toddler, but cried
when the Bonus Army was dispelled. They
fled from Hoover as he sucked away their
last hopes and sent them back to the Dust Bowl.

I was an elegant child, sure, but at
13, 227 forced the Russians
to fire on their own, and I couldn’t
have been a red blocking patrol, oh no.

I was an elegant teen girl, so my
step-siblings and I were mortified by
the bombs dropping on Germany, but that
was war, unlike the Empire State crash.

I was an elegant lady, with my
blood-stained pink Chanel suit and its matching
pink pillbox hat. That was the year of my
last good birthday, or maybe my only.

I was an elegant woman, and though
I was widowed not once, but twice, and the
earthquakes and the mudslides tossed up dirt passed
my knees, I died that way, too, elegant.

I was an elegant figure, icon
and royalty to a country that had
none of their own, editor in life and
in love, cursed by a name of my choosing.

Bonus Marchers at Capitol June 17, 1932

On This Date in History:  We’ve heard that this is the worst economy “since the great depression.”   I have taken issue with that as I think it is pure hyperbole and political posturing.  In my view, our overall economic situation is more akin to the latter part of the Carter administration and early Reagan years. However, it could be argued that the banking crisis was potentially as troubling as the 1930’s but again, and argument might be made that the Savings and Loan crisis was a better barometer.  But, in overall economic terms, its hard to make such a comparison.  For instance, on June 17, 1932 a Washington newspaper said it was the “tensest day in the capital since the War.”

What was going on?  Well, 10,000 World War I vets had gathered on the Capitol grounds in Washington DC.  Across the Anacostia River were another 10,000 who had been living in huts  made of scrap metal and other junk from a nearby junk pile.  These vets also had their wives and children residing in their camp.  They had gathered to see if they would get their money.  In 1924, Congress had voted to award veterans of the Great War $1.25 for every day a soldier served overseas and a dollar for every day stateside.  But, there was a catch.  They didn’t get their “war bonus” until 1945.  These men needed it in 1932 during some of the darkest days of the Depression.  The US House of Representatives had voted to give them their bonuses then.  But, the Senate voted against the measure by a 62-18 margin.  Needless to say, the vets were pretty P’Oed.

Bonus Army Camp 1932

So, the “Bonus Expeditionary Force” decided to stay in protest.  Aside from the 10,000 across the river, the 10,000 in the Capitol had for weeks been camped out in some 20 sites, including partially demolished government buildings.  What I don’t get is that Congress wouldn’t pony up the bonus money…today we’d call it a stimulus…but they did allocate $100,000 for the relocation of the bonus marchers any where they wanted to go.  The politicians just wanted them out of town.  But, few took up the offer and President Hoover refused to meet with them.  About 500 did leave town but 1000 new ones took their place.  The marchers started a single file “death march” in front of the Capitol and it lasted until July 16 when Congress adjourned.  By that time, 17,000 had gathered to see their less than favorite legislators exit for recess. 

Vets Used the Flag as a Weapon to Defend against Police

With the politicians gone, one might think that the marchers would leave too. Nope. They stayed and the local authorities became nervous and on this date in 1932, the Bonus Expeditionary Force enjoyed their final day of relative peace in our nation’s capitol.   The next day, cops were ordered to clear all government buildings, presumably those that were in some state of demolition housing some of the vets.  The old soldiers resisted and the cops started firing their weapons.  Two US veterans of World War I who survived open warfare were killed by the police in their own country.  So…what to do? Why call out the army!   

Caesar and Ike Make Sure the Vets Get Out of Town

By the late afternoon, a tank platoon, an infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron were on the scene to put down their fellow soldiers.  Who better to be in command of the troops that General Douglas MacArthur.  And who better to serve as his liason with the police but none other than Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, future Supreme Allied Commander and President of the United States. And if that’s not enough, why not get Major George S. Patton to lead the cavalry?  Clearly outmatched, the old vets were pushed out by soldiers with fixed bayonets and cavalrymen with their sabres drawn.   

Vet Camp Burns in Shadow of Capitol Dome

The UPI reported that “men, women and children fled shrieking across the broken ground, falling into excavations as they strove to avoid the rearing hoofs and sable points.  Meantime, infantry on the south side had adjusted gas masks and were hurling tear gas bombs inot the block into which they had just driven the veterans.”  Four hours later, the camps had been set ablaze and the protesters driven across the river to the Anacostia Flats camp.  By 4am on the 29th, that shantyville was also burning and the marchers driven into Maryland.  From their, they were told to not stop walking until they got to Pennsylvania. 

Maybe MacArthur was trying to re-enact Sherman’s march to the sea.  Or maybe he was practicing for his march back to Bataan.  Well, maybe not, but it certainly was not a proud day for America’s armed forces and a dark spot on the public record of three heroes of World War II.  However, it must have been tough to follow orders to turn on your own men…tough spot to be in.  No word on where the Commander in Chief was at that time.

Monday evening

Weather Bottom Line:  If we get to 90 in July it would be in the next two days.  Not so much today but perhaps Tuesday.  The reason that I say on Tuesday is because there will be a front approaching late Tuesday.  A scenario could unfold that we get a decent southwesterly flow and perhaps some slight compressional warming with the approach of the front and that may get us to 90.  However, some of the models want to bring a shortwave close to the area in th e flow along a returning warm front from the southwest that would help to increase afternoon clouds and that may hold  down the temps a bit.  I’d say about a 1 in 4 chance of getting 90 on Tuesday.  After that, we have the front on Wednesday increasing rain and t’storm chances and then the rest of the week the big long wave trof that had been in over the eastern half of the nation appears to be re-established in a fashion not as deep as the previous one but broader with a greater wave length so it encompasses the northern plains as well as the northeastern quadrant of the US.  Hence, we will be in the jetstream flow or the storm track and so the models all bring through little short waves or upper disturbances now and again keeping rain chances in the forecast for the remainder of the week.

Presidential scholar Richard Norton Smith responded to that question when he spoke at a recent Wharton Leadership Conference. He offered 10 rules for presidential evaluations that stand the test of time. “There is no single rule for assessing presidential performance,” said Smith, who addressed the recent 13th Annual Wharton Leadership Conference, co-sponsored by the Center for Human Resources and the Center for Leadership & Change Management. “Eisenhower illustrates better than anyone the need for each generation to revisit its assumptions” in light of new evidence, the performance of succeeding presidents and the perspective that comes with time.

“Americans have been revising their estimates of presidents for as long as we have had presidents,” said Smith, who has published biographies of Thomas E. Dewey, Herbert Hoover and George Washington, and is the presidential scholar in residence at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. People forget that the revered Washington “was in fact an enormously controversial president” who was burned in effigy and denounced as a “betrayer of the Revolution” while he was in office. Bouts of historical revisionism and counter-revisionism explain why assessments of the nation’s leaders “bounce around like corn in a popper,” Smith said.

Smith offered his personal list of “10 rules to judge a president” as a more objective approach avoiding the distorting effects of changing societal values, such as the pro-government activism of the New Deal and the 1960s. Here is the first of the ten:

1) History rewards the risk-takers. The list of presidents and the bold initiatives that pushed them up in the rankings are obvious, including Thomas Jefferson (the Louisiana Purchase), Harry Truman (stopping Communist aggression in Korea), Lyndon Johnson (Civil Rights Act of 1964), and Richard Nixon (dialogue with Red China).

But risk taking does not always conform to our notion of a “swashbuckling, agenda-setting executive” that began with Teddy Roosevelt 100 years ago. “Sometimes, doing nothing is the most difficult form of leadership of all,” Smith said. He cited George H.W. Bush’s diplomatic refusal, despite strong pressure, to attend “the photo opp of the century,” the destruction of the Berlin Wall that symbolized Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.

“By not rubbing Mikhail Gorbachev’s nose in the humiliation of the demise of the Soviet empire, he made it possible for Gorbachev to go along with a peaceful integration of Germany and for the Soviet Union to support Bush’s coalition in the First Gulf War,” Smith said, noting that few would have predicted Soviet acquiescence to these American initiatives.

To read the complete article as well as several others and to receive free e-mail updates from Knowledge@Wharton, please visit this Web site:

knowledge@wharton.upenn.edu

Comments, questions, requests, or suggestions? Please share them. They will be most welcome and I thank you for them. Best regards, Bob