Van Buren = Depression Fighter

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Points 180

Chieftain1776 Posted: Mon, Mar 16 2009 4:00 PM

I finally got to reading DiLorenzo's "How Capitalism Saved America" and came across this gem:

"In addition to financial deregulation, notes historian Jeffrey Hummel, Van Buren "thwarted all attempts to use economic depression as an excuse for expanding government 's role Henry Clay and the Whigs (including a young Abraham Lincoln) viewed the depression as a political opportunity to get the federal government to enact their favorite pork-barrel schemes for "internal improvements,"....He also defeated the Whigs' attempts to get the federal government to bailout the states, many of which had unwisely pursued Clay's policy of issuing massive amounts of debt from "internal improvements" In fact, total federal government expenditures fell in absolute dollar terms during Van Buren's term..." pg 159

Pretty much a mirror contrast to today. Just sad...