Empower U - March 20 - Hunter Oswald

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The voices of frees episode glad we have you heard daily?
You know the only voice of reason on the radio
fifty five krs the talk station.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Atoh five fifty five kr CD talk station. Happy Friday, Eve,
Please to walk to the Welcome in the fifty five
years the Morning Show, Hunter Oswald, who's doing a seminar
tomorrow night. Empower You America dot org, where you can
register to log in from the comfort of your own
home or show up at the studio seven pm, Star
time on Herbert Hoover Now. Hunter Oswald is a five

(00:33):
film Beth gase Witch Development Fellow, research fellow with The
American Spectator, where he is currently working on a project
with that publications founder. His articles and Spectator have examined
a whole host of issues, and he's gone around reporting
for The Spectator and from covering the twenty twenty two
Dobbs protest, you guys remember that in Washington, d C.
To jd Vance's Middletown rally back in twenty four iff

(00:55):
student fellow and Conservative thought for the Institute for Faith
and Freedom, and he's contributed a whole bunch of different
news outlets. Welcome to the program, Hunter Oswald. It's great
having you on the show today.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Hey, thank you for having me on, Brian.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
The subject matter Herbert Hoover. And you know, honestly, other
than Hooverville's which was of course the Great Depression and
the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, I didn't don't really know
anything about Herbert Hoover. Apparently he's got a reputation as
being one of the most hated and controversial presidents out there.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, I mean, Hoover is definitely one of those figures
that today when we think about him, most people in
the general population will think of the president that failed
the Great Depression and the guy who eventually led for
FDR to rise to power and the New Deal. Yeah,
but when we think about Hoover today, especially as me,
we kind of take these things for granted. But at

(01:50):
the same time, there's this new development, this new narrative
that we've created by New Deal historians that say, you know,
this guy named Hoover, you know it was the reason
he failed was because of his lasi faire economics. It
was his hands off approach. But when you actually learn
and study him, you can see a completely different story

(02:13):
with Hoover. So tonight with the empower You seminar. I
am looking at Hoover as he truly is not how
New Deal historians portray him as today, So.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
An accurate picture of Herbert Hoover the president. And it's
actually it's tomorrow night, correct tomorrow at seven pm. Power
You America dot Org. He said, tonight, Well today is tonight?
Oh my god, See this is my week. I'm sorry, hunter,
this is my week. I'm just I'm hitting fits and
spasms here this week. So apologies to my listeners. I

(02:46):
am not a complete idiot, just forgot what today it is. Anyhow,
going back, thank you. I think we all go through
those moments occasionally, if it's not a sign of dementia onset, Eddie.
I did mention the Smooth Holly Teriff Act on purpose
because I did know was signed in the launder Hoover

(03:06):
and it apparently exacerbated the problems created by the Great
Depression in the aftermath of the stock market crash. Is
there something that we can learn from that about what
Trump's doing today? We be talking about it and that
at all in this context?

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Oh? Absolutely, because when people think of the Smooth Harley Terriffact,
they think of, Okay, you know, why does this tariff
play into causing or at least exacerbating the Great Depression. Well,
what people fail to understand is when the Great Depression
hit on, people are already struggling for trade, in other words,
who to buy from, Because now you have the government,

(03:42):
via protectionism, saying hey, we the state are determining where
you're going to buy your products. And then their case,
they're arguing from what you would say public interest theory,
which is that all we are doing pre the economy
is in the public interest. But the tariff, the Harley
Terriffact failed immensely. I mean we are talking a few

(04:03):
months after it passed in nineteen thirty, seventeen point nine
percent of production drops immediately. And so when we think
about in today's environment, with the tariff war right now
with Mexico and Canada, we have to be very careful
of what tariffs are because then the tariffs are not
a good thing. It's kind of an unfortunate loss loss situation.

(04:25):
And so like people say, well, it's only for national
security reasons, and you can make an argument for that,
but when you're looking at it from a purely economic standpoint,
you're restricting trade, you're creating new barriers of entry for
new companies to invest in your country. You're effected. And
another unfortunate fact is you're actually encouraging ronism because teriffts

(04:46):
often benefit those in a situation that are like, you
know what if I don't the less competitors I have
in the economy, the more likely it can benefit. So
they What we start seeing is a transition from say
an economic competition, where you would say, okay, companies actually
have to compete with each other, versus say political entrepreneurship,
where it's like, how can I use the government to

(05:08):
my advantage. So I think with the teriff vers today
were Trump, we should be very leery about how we
are using teriffs in the context of what is going on.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, I mean, I think they disnecessarily along the lines
and logical reason that you're using, you know, the natural
reaction from an economic standpoint as well. You know, we're
going to get retaliatory tariffs on us, and people are
not going to buy as much or in when we
buy if for the goods that are imported based on
the retaliatory tariffs, we're going to have to pay more
for it. So through what lens was Herbert Hoover looking

(05:41):
when he put tariffs on twenty thousand or so products,
did he ignore that sort of logic, that economic reaction,
that wait a second, that's going to cause people to
demand less American products, and it's going to cause the
products that we import to go up in price. How
can that help the economy?

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Exactly? So would Hoover spend commented the tariff. People kind
of debate about this somewhat, but most generally agree. When
the terror factor was approved in nineteen thirty, Hoover said, well,
it was part of our Republican platform because he did
campaign and then this was again nearly one hundred years
ago where Republicans were very much the party of terms.

(06:18):
That was a huge deal under McKinley, as we've heard
Trump today talk about McKinley. So Hoover kind of played
in that idea of somewhat I'm fulfiliate with the party
platform is. But at the same time, and this is
another unfortunate fact about Hoover's he did play into cronyism
a bit from his supporters in the industries that were like, hey,

(06:40):
we want to benefit right now, and we need to
really focus on how do we restrict trade from foreign countries,
other other words, foreign competitors, so we get the advantage
despite the fact that consumers are going to suffer. So
an immediate way, it's like, okay, we can artificially raise
our prices. And who kind of plays this idea, Well,

(07:02):
you know, lase fair. It kind of works, but I
also think it's not the most efficient form of government
of the economy. So that's kind of where the terrific
narrative comes from. Where again he said, well, it's part
of fulfilling the party platform. However, there's also the fact
that you have Suber going along Satan. You know, this

(07:23):
lasei fair thing is maybe not the way to go.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
So ultimately, then did was was he more like a
Wilsonian kind of president?

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Oh? Very much so. In fact, when Hoover initially expressed
his progressivism, he actually supported Teddy Roosevelt in an eighteen
twelve election. In fact, if you go to the Herbert
Hoover Library, his presidential library, everybody agrees that he adhere
to the Teddy Roosevelt wing of the party. He was
very much a progressive Republican of his day. So he

(07:57):
was like you know, I believe he's like you know,
I believe in rugged individualism because of his Quaker background,
so he supported freedom. However, he also saw like the
state could be used as a means to be constructive
in the economy. So that's kind of where the Wilsonian
the Roosevelt mentality comes from. In fact, Woodrow Wilson appointed

(08:20):
him as the director of the US Food Administration during
World War One. That's kind of where his first major
political job is under Woodrow Wilson.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
How about that. I certainly enlightened me on quite a
few things on Herbert Hoover, and again the seminar tonight
at seven o'clock, And it's what did I overlook in
terms of something else you'd be speaking of love about
Herbert Hoover. We do did a lot on Smooth Hawley,
because I know that was rather impactful and not a
good way since tariffs are a big topic of conversation.
But just real quick, what are the fun fact can

(08:49):
you throw out about Herbert Hoover that you'd be talking
about tonight that my listeners might be interested in.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, so I think I don't want to give all
away the.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
No, no, no, but don't don't rebel page in the book.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh exactly. But I think a lot of people will
find surprising is that when we think about who Coover
is as this log fair guy, as I said, that's
not him. And I think the biggest secret, or the
biggest surprise will be that Hoover actually developed his own
new deal before FDR ever thought about it. In fact,

(09:25):
a lot of economists and historians have actually looked back
on this and said, you know, and interesting enough, I
have the quote right in front of me from FDR's advisor,
Roxford Tugwell, who said, quote when it was all over,
I once made a list of new deal ventures begun
during Hoover's years as Secretary of Commerce and then as president.

(09:46):
The new deal owed much to what he had begun,
and effectively, what he's saying there is Groover without Hoover,
FDR really didn't have that much well his own DUDU.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's hilarious, Hunter Oswald, Do you be talking about this at
length this evening again? Log in online empower Youoamerica dot
ORGANI is a link on my blog page fifty five
KRC dot com. Just make sure you register. It's a
wonderful speech tonight, I'm sure will be Hunter, and thanks
for coming in the morning show and giving us a
little bit of information about Herbert Hoover that I'm sure
quite a few of us didn't know.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well. Thank you, Brian, and again everybody come out tonight
and hope see you all.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
There very much. So take care of my friend and
don't go away. Former Anderson Township trusty Drew Pappas had
a bit of an altercation with some liberal protest to
resulting in well him assaulting Drew Pappas. We'll get the
details on that coming up next Fall by Jay Ratliff
at the bottom of the hour. Who we can stick
around fifty five krc A U line