economists and business leaders said, including andrew mellon, herbert hoover's secretary of treasury, said we have to purge the raw from the system. this is basically a moral problem. people spent more they could and should therefore we've got to let them just basically rot. well, you continue a moralistic position, but that doesn't really advance the cause of getting out of the economic programs. it doesn't tell you much about the structure of the economy. gas undoubtedly, people should not spend more than they have. but unless you progress toward fundamental question, which is how to be given into the predicament, where the economy kept growing, but most will have to go into debt in order to keep up their standard of living. then you're not really addressing the underlying problem. and that was the problem with herbert hoover and andrew mellon and a lot of those late twenties and early 30s. they had a moralistic view, but they didn't like at the system. >> we're hearing he did and from president obama now that people need to spend less. they need to borrow less. we need to export m

he got trounced against herbert hoover in 1928 in part because he ran as an open catholic against herberthoover and that was the last big time i think the country really thought to have anti-bigotry election. as i mentioned before coming to organized crime taken over cities. chicago is the best example. you know, think about capone, probably the most famous gangster in world history. you know, he made his fortune bootlegging alcohol, bringing it in from canada and other places. of course it is increasingly turning to violence. everybody's heard of saint valentine's day massacre from february 14, 1929 and i was on the front page of every newspaper in the country. .. as a bipartisan measure yet the republicans got blamed for it because there was a party they had to enforce it. with the offense of the great depression of course the country had a seismic political shift, again, just like 2006, 2008 when the country shifted completely over from the republicans to the democrats. a wholesale basis. just like today now the democrats now control congress, both houses, and the presidency. the same

we did have a disaster rust policies most people now agree under herbert hoover. i take it some of these governors were appointed before hoover. i take it it was built on a tradition of somewhat endorsed the high tariffs as being hopeful of economic prosperity. i believe it was under coolidge that his secretary of state signed the kell log-brianne treaty which permanently outlawed war. probably played some part therefore in which -- played some part in the kind of unhealthy sense that governed america in the first part of the 30s that allowed us or made it even more likely we wouldn't have intervened or even encouraged others to intervene when it might have made a difference in europe. it's a slill argument to blame everything on coolidge. but if everything was so great you would think there would be a little more barrier to the bad policies that brought about the great depression and terrible events worldwide in the 30s. so i'm a little bit, i would just worn a little bit about excessive nostalgia for a particular moment, whether it's pre-progressive america, whet

that was the problem with herbert hoover and andrew mellon, and a lot of those in the late '20s, early '30s. they had a moralistic view but they did look at the system. >> we are hearing from president obama now that people need to spend less. they need to borrow less. they need to save more. we need to export more. these are the current nostrand that he likes. are the wrong? >> yes. in the following sense. because if you don't deal with the facts that so much of the nation's income and wealth has gone to the top, a record agree, we haven't seen this concentration at the top since 1928. unless you deal with that, you are simply saying to people you've got to get more dirt you've got to save more. you've got to let the dollar drop. you get to thereby spend more for foreign goods. you've got to come if you want to the job, you have to settle for lower wages. all of this feature spinach types of economics may be technically correct, but it really is not correct in terms of what a buoyant and growing economy should be able to afford its citizens. >> politically or socially perhaps, one mig

economic program that we adopted in 2001, we saw the worst econom the worst job production since herbert hoover. now i'm going to vote for this bill. i think it does help the economy. we are paying too great a price for it. frankly, i don't need a tax cut. that's not to say i don't want a tax cut. but it will not affect my life. and it will not affect the economy. and it will exacerbate the debt. that's not good for my children or for our country. i would urge all of us as we vote on this piece of legislation, whatever decision we make, to understand the message that we all received about growin the economy. that's why the president has made a deal a lot of us don't like. because we think that it was unnecessary to adversely affect the deficit with $700 billion and because we limited it, in terms of that, just the upper income, that we did not have to pay the price. we needed to borrow the money to get this economy moving. having dollars in their pockets to grow the economy. that's worth the price. we will not solve the deficit problem if we don't get our economy growing so we cannot depress at

living and then you're not really addressing the underlying problem and that was the problem with herbert hoover and andrew mellon and a lot of those in the late '20s and early '30s. they had a moralistic view but they didn't look at the system. >> we're hearing even from president obama that people need to spend less. they need to borrow less. they need to save more. we need to export more. these are the current nostrums if you would like, i think, wrong. >> yes, so wrong. they are wrong in the following sense. because if you don't deal with the fact that so much of the nation's incoming wealth has gone to the top -- a record degree -- i mean, we haven't seen this concentration of wealth at the top since 1928. and unless you deal with that, you are simply saying to people, you've got to get poorer. you've got to save more. you've got to let the dollar drop. you've got to thereby spend more for foreign goods. you've got to, if you want to have a job you've together settle for lower wages. all of this eat your spinach type economics may be technically correct. but it really is not correct in term

economic program that we adopted in 2001, we saw the worst economy, the worst job production since herbert hoover. now i'm going to vote for this bill. i think it does help the economy. we are paying too great a price for it. frankly, i don't need a tax cut. that's not to say i don't want a tax cut. but it will not affect my life. and it will not affect the economy. and it will exacerbate the debt. that's not good for my children or for our country. i would urge all of us as we vote on this piece of legislation, whatever decision we make, to understand the message that we all received about growing the economy. that's why the president has made a deal a lot of us don't like. because we think that it was unnecessary to adversely affect the deficit with $700 billion and because we limited it, in terms of that, just the upper income, that we did not have to pay the price. we needed to borrow the money to get this economy moving. having dollars in their pockets to grow the economy. that's worth the price. we will not solve the deficit problem if we don't get our economy growing so we cannot depress a

did herbert hoover port chestera arthur wright presidential biographies? >> guest: looks, we've had them for over 100 years now, dating back to the late 19th century. so we've had them for many presidents. some were successful, some unsuccessful. it's really since harry truman that they take off in terms of sale and in terms of being almost a normal part of the post-presidency. jimmy carter msa has taken it beyond anyone. i can't remember the number of books he's written at this point beyond his memoirs, but it's now well over 100 years that we've been having us. if i can just get back to the collar, there is a really interesting point in the book, where president bush says, you know, he regrets he didn't go for immigration reform before social security reform and he says it in that interview as well after the 2004 reelection. i think that choice of timing and sequence is really kind of interesting and you can imagine a very different outcome, not just on this presidency and immigration policy can about republican party had he made that decision. >> host:

i take it that some of the fed governors were appointed under herbert hoover. endorsed high tariffs. i believe it was under coolidge that the secretary of state, frank kellogg, found a tree that permanently allied war -- founded a tree that permanently outlawed war. played some part, am i right, in the kind of unhealthy sense that govern america in the first part of the 1930's that made it more likely that we would not intervene or encourage others to intervene in a way that might have made a difference in europe. it is a silly argument to blame everything on the 1930's and taught in college, but if everything was so great, -- and calvin coolidge, but if everything was so great, you would think that there would be a bit more of a barrier to the great depression and everything that happened in the 1930's. i would want a little bit about excessiveness of for a particular -- warn a little bit about excessive and stock offer for a particular moment -- nostalgia for a particular moment. william howard taft, we really convinced that he was the perfect choice for the

you had the great depression, herbert hoover as president. york times" went to some visionaries and said what will america be like in 80 years, they were really hopeful for a better time. they wanted to see things be a lot, lot better. let's take a look at some of these predictions. this is now going all over the web. this is one of the main ones. w.j. mayo, well known for the mayo clinic. he guessed the average life span would be 70. we beat that. according to the cdc, the average life span is now 78. so we're doing pretty well. take a look. william ogburn, very well known. he guessed the u.s. population would be 160 million. we've doubled that. my favorite thing from him. look what he guessed. the magic of remote control will be common place. >> he wasn't off by that much. when was it first common. >> it started in the '80s. >> i was only off my by myself 20 years. remote control. i remember. >> when i was a kid, there was a wired remote for the tv with two rows of buttons on that. >> i've seen pictures of that. you click on it. >> look at

america so that that what is going to happen is they will take over power and we will have another herbert hoover and depression that you have never seen before. host: here are some of the things that the 111, was achieved -- health-care reform, financial regulatory reform, stimulus spending, tax cuts, " podcast, don't tell" repeal, start treaty ratified and 9/11 responder's help the bill. harry reid was the demint -- eb ullient. new york. charlie. republican line. did i say this city right? ok. caller: before i make a comment, can i ask a question? why don't you do away with the sheer raid of the one call in 30 days. there is a guy from michigan who calls almost every day. he gets on the air every time he calls. and the reason you let him on the air is because he is a liberal, he worships obama and he hates republicans. it is impossible not to recognize the voice of someone who calls three or four days a week. host: ok, charlie, what do you think about the 111th? caller: we have a president who is singing the praises of a congress who has a 13% approval rating. everything that they did it was ev

it sounds like herbert hoover is trying run the economic argument rather than a progressive like fdr. >> that is your biggest failure, what would you most like to be remembered for? >> showing up for work every day giving a dam about average people and doing my darndest to see that. >> what would you be doing next? >> i do not have the foggiest idea. >> are you interested in writing? >> i am not interested in writing another book. it takes a lot of time. >> will you stay in washington? >> i will be doing something in wisconsin and year. i cannot imagine not having a foot in both places. >> thank you for meeting with us. >> thank you. >> we are in room 218 of the u.s. capitol witches chairman david obey's office of the appropriations committee and is working office. this is had a storage room. tell me about the room. -- this is an historic wrong. >> at 1 point it was the speaker's office. it became their office of the chairman of the appropriations committee. that was over most of the 20th- century and beyond. if you take a look at wall ac-- the wall here, this picture is from my home

his commerce secretary, herbert hoover -- he did not see it as the role of washington to run it all. private philanthropy should take the lead. a third feature of coolidge that enabled him to achieve what he did was that he practiced politics while. he was a career politician. the kind that we are trying to vote out these days. he knew that to get your goal, it took skill whether it was a pocket veto or behind-the-scenes work. he did his work carefully. he picked his battles. he did not have a steep learning curve because he took the years before he got to the presidency to learn his craft. he is the rare animal that is a master and uses his mastery to make government smaller. the final feature of the coolidge mask did -- coolidge method is his humility. his humility towards his office. he not only have the ability to delegate, he believed he should out of respect for the structure of the executive branch. when the time came to run for a second elected term, kind of an entitlement of a successful president, coolidge declined with an admonition that could have been written by someone