The Politically Incorrect Guide<sup>TM<sup> to American History by Thomas E. Woods Jr

Author:Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2010-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

THE MISUNDERSTOOD TWENTIES

Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge usually wind up near the bottom in presidential rankings compiled by the votes of historians. This is no surprise; these presidents engaged in no large-scale social engineering, embarked on no vast legislative program like the New Deal or the Great Society, and involved the United States in no major foreign war. Since most historians favor an activist government committed to “social justice” at home and abroad, they have little sympathy for chief executives who simply leave the American people alone.

Yet America prospered during the 1920s. American business set production records. Wages increased and working hours declined. And as if to underscore yet again the irrelevance of labor unionism, these outcomes occurred at a time when labor union membership was undergoing a rapid decline.

Guess what?

★ Without grand programs, Harding and Coolidge presided over one of the most economically prosperous times in America’s history.

★ Under Treasury secretary Andrew Mellon, the top income tax rate fell from 73 percent to 40 percent and later to 25 percent, but the greatest proportional reductions occurred in the lower income brackets, where people saw most of their income tax burden eliminated altogether.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.