independence and the third president of the united states thomas jefferson who made most of his money through inheritance from his father in which he gave in the estate of monticello his net worth is estimated to have been two hundred twelve million dollars that's your presidential fun fact for today hope you did well. professor montana welcome to the show to talk about presidents thank you so much for being here so when we talk about how much impact a president can have on the economy. they stopped work with congress so what is their power we see the president has just passed tax reform but how much power do they really have by themselves i think is story consensus among historians is that presidents don't have all that much power when it comes to the short term specially they have to act at the size that they have a vision of what they want to do with the economy and where they're going to actually take it but i guess the best indication is to see where presidents take

the economy's seen long term we look back obviously the one nine hundred thirty s. the one nine hundred early part of the sixty's the eighty's the ninety's it's very difficult to tell now if the president has a real impact unless he's a true visionary with a real plan you spent a lot of time. studying president nixon did he have an economic policy that was. approved by congress. they basically in it one of the three key things to talk about nixon is and everybody brings of watergate we make these associations with present there is that there is that the plan the nixon had people often say have watergate not occurred and had the book had the boom of the one nine hundred eighty s. taken place in the seventy's maybe nixon would have been perceived differently by history . nixon's often given bad marks because of the over regulation of control with price controls and that sort of thing so he had to deal with quite a few other issues in addition the economy in addition watergate the middle east what's happening with china detente etc so he's not usually perceived as

a strong economic president given the circumstances of what would become known as stagflation inflation etc etc now i mean we associate president nixon with not associated mean with opening up china where there are other economic policies that president nixon pushed forward. it really mattered to the economy in this sense not a heavy heavy footprint when it came to what was happening with opec in the early one nine hundred seventy s. it's a post vietnam war era so there is a bit of that funk and what the united states has had to deal with during that time there's not a not a head not a real heavy footprint he talked about the new federalism which was going to be under that whole mantra of a new nixon and being an active president that regard he everyone who reads read about nixon very specifically knows that his passion wasn't exactly there was more in foreign policy not to be said was he dormant no but were his policies. top of the line effect to remember for that sort of thing no not really let's go not

fast forward to i only want to go up to president reagan but you know he was the last president to pass tax reform in one nine hundred eighty six and we all remember that phrase trickle trickle down economics and that phrase is been. in the recent conversation with with tax reform what were the differences between how president reagan passed tax reform professor and how president trump helped get it passed i think definitely its relationship with congress one thing we look back on reagan for someone who affected change who really believed in the art of symbolism reagan stood out in that sense he reached out to his fellow democrats worked with his own party to try to get legislation passed people know the famous stories between him and tip o'neill speaker of the house back then where they were able to debate on the scene sometimes very aggressively but they everybody knew behind the scenes they both respected one another so it was a beloved figure in that sense obviously very controversial for some policies given

what happened with the deficit and the debt and whatnot but really iran contra iran contra as well but he knew how to reach out he was that symbolic president who knew that it mattered to reach across party lines and also from the press in some cases he wasn't there wasn't as much antagonism between the press and the president back then as we do as we can. by now i remember a great story that chris matthews told of his book. tip and the gipper i think it's called a couple of years ago where she talks about president reagan being in the what was essentially a green room a holding room before he gave the state of the union and he said to the president chris matthews did was a staffer to tip o'neill said how does it feel to be in the room where we plot against you. but the president said now chris it's after six o'clock or something like that we're all friends so if there really was a a different time and i was actually on the hill then a little bit was a pretty good time for working across the aisles and it seems controversial too

controversial now let me ask you about that when you go back to the president's throughout history and you think about the divide with a congress that did divide with the other party has there been a time that you think really has been more polarized with presidents in the past i think it's a matter of context is a big thing we do have to look at the civil war because that was a period of time when you had congressman who literally would pull their weapons out and put it on their desks in the senate floor obviously there was the caning of senator sumner and whatnot between say in south carolina massachusetts and i guess levi and obviously with this animosity we see today's defeat different it seems that after the civil war obviously there was a bit of acrimony between both sides but people seem to be able to talk to one another now there's a certain sense of disrespect the fact that congressmen and senators have to focus more on raising funds and going back to their home districts between thursday monday and thursday of every week they're focused on legislation here the rest of

time they're raising funds and that seems to have taken a bit away from from what's important which is relationships with you know the in washington and presidents usually with the visionaries and pushing in that direction and sadly we're missing that's what i think a little less acrimony a little bit a little bit more of practicality on both sides and the congress and in this in the executive would be an important thing right now. to get something done you know you can't just ram things through and we saw this tax reform bill but i want to talk about something and we will go in the way back machine a little bit and i was reading a book recently about george washington's birthday now talking about infrastructure building canals over the over the mountains to get to get west but really when you think about moments where infrastructure was important and we're talking about a big infrastructure proposal now the president has put one out a one point five trillion dollar proposal but let's go back to the civil war professor and talk about how infrastructure played a role in the civil war and really helped honest abe lincoln absolutely when you

look at what was happening in washington back then and it was a major metamorphosis between what was happening in the eight hundred fifty s. in the latter part of the eighteen sixty's washington is transformed almost as intensely as it is during world war two the city just completely changes overnight lincoln having been a whig party member prior to being a republican was big on internal improvements as people may recall being on infrastructure began setting the ground for what would eventually be the trans pacific railroad railway act that he would pass an eight hundred sixty three so some of the deathly we have to give lincoln back in the day a lot of credit for being a real visionary for being a practical politician and that sense when he signed the pacific railway act of eight hundred sixty three that leads a direct line to chicago where chicago was far behind st louis a direct result of this of the civil war and that act by lincoln leads to chicago being a major metropolis that is eventually connected to the west so as a whig former whig party member and as

a brand new republican party president that was an important facet of the republican party platform back in the day and that ended up actually helping the north when the civil war in the south had. lots of con cotton plantations expectorate but the infrastructure to ship things back and forth was great walter montana professor at boston university presidential historian scholar thank you so much for your pleasure appreciate it thank you. and before we go on this president's day in the us it might be a good time to recall that george washington even as a child told his father of a damaged cherry tree i cannot tell why i did it with my hatchet whether myth or fact the story appeared of misers washington's personal virtues which made him an excellent leader and our first president and honest president abraham lincoln

honest abe this memorial we stand in front of right now he was called by that moniker from an early age and it transcended to his life and politics even his political foes senator stephen douglas for example with whom lincoln was competing for a senate race said he is as honest as he is shrewd and if i beat him my victory will be hardly one lincoln lost that senate race against senator douglas but two years later they were added again to running for the presidency of the united states when lincoln won douglas said you have a very able and very honest man as president everyone knew of honest a about his integrity he didn't need to spend time convincing people that he believed what he said and he said what he meant instead he penned spent time on doing things like saving the union during the civil war there's more outright lying in politics today than ever before in history and unfortunately it starts at the top if you want to check out political fact dot org for unbiased assessments of the

truth telling politicians feel free that's political fact dot org what a sad state of affairs for our country our economy is finally getting out of the gutter there are many reasons to be hopeful yet politicians are having a terrible time with the truth and some in the us have simply overlooked it we can all probably a do a lot better the politicians and us we. need to hold those who lie accountable and they the politicians need to listen or they'll be voted out at least that's how it should work if we all do our part the politicians will follow suit and that will help keep our nation on the right track for our people and our businesses and for the economic engine of our democracy so perhaps today some will heed a lesson from two great presidents who thought truth was terrific happy birthday mr president that's all for now on this presidents day thanks for watching be sure to

catch boom bust on you tube at you tube dot com slash boom bust archie see you next time. on that. server i want to do it just show me very stupid to be very clear right. away. food. management. on the on they they when they up and they have.

skimmed you need yeah you feel the. sun yeah i'm them what do you how to become a celebrity do you wonder. if this was actually my helmet i mean that we could measure the cost more next to. apply to many clubs over the years. yes so i know the game inside out its. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch put the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman ija killing narrowness and spending two hundred twenty million on one player. it's an experience like nothing else on to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful game played great so well more chimes for. the base this minute.

where americans were smooth enough but what that's not us americans are screwed ruthless huckster playing sharks that's who we are and that's who john travolta is that's why i don't like a barack obama that's what lunch. time is getting international recognition with the help of israel at least in the world of zoos remember wolf it was dismissive to me like you know. this isn't my cup of tea is going up to study hall meeting. notes on. the only palestinians who gets the most help from his jerusalem counterparts i don't think there's some of those who in the world under the oak vision could not only could do this. and the desire for this lady in the muscle that you have and

i'm going to compete in the doesn't seem to do more in the middle don't put this off. the headlines ought to international there are conflicting reports that president assad plans to send troops to a serious opera and that's where the turkish army is fighting against kodesh forces

. a recently discovered secret state documents on the practice of forced sterilization. and the international criminal court. testimonies from. every hour welcome to the program.