Why not go Hoover’s way?
Tuesday 27th January 2009, 8:45AM GMT.
LETTER: The Government have little or no real vision for the future. With the job situation in decline, why don’t they do what the Americans did in the depression of the thirties?
Herbert Hoover built the Hoover Dam employing many thousands of workers. This made it possible to harness the water power for electric power generation.
They diverted part of the Colorado River to make parts of the Arizona desert fertile.
Hong Kong built their airport between two islands, Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau. These projects did not destroy good farming land but enhanced the areas of their country.
The proposed third runway for Heathrow will destroy village and green-belt land, and add more air traffic congestion in that area.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has the right idea to solve this problem and cause little or no disruption to people’s lives by using the Thames estuary for the third runway.
Having so much air and road traffic converging around London causes problems. Why not reclaim more of the fen areas in Norfolk, or use a disused air base for expansion? Why should people have to go to London for long distance flights?
Building more houses will not help our trade deficit. To trade you have to offer something other countries want to buy, to balance the accounts.
P Sherwood
Wellington
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
While generally agreeing with P Sherwood, could I point out that “The New Deal” he or she refers to was NOTHING to do with President Hoover, but his successor, Franklyn Delano Roosevelt.
Hoover’s response to the Wall Street Crash and the subsequent depression was to do nothing, saying that the markets had to be left to sort themselves out. He was responsible for using troops with tanks and teargas to disperse an encampment of unemployed ex-servicemen outside the White House (such camps were referred to ironically as “Hoovervilles”).
The Hoover Dam was named after him – presumably as an exercise in black humour.
Report abuse
I would not agree that this government do not have a vision of the future they have been destroying the British constitution in order to create such a vision.
But would suggest that a vision for the future is a slightly different subject that the one addressed by Hoover who was eventually forced into attempting to spend his way out of depression. The fact is he failed and was voted out of office at the following election his polices were not appreciated by the people at the time who faced higher tax bills in order to pay for the government programs.
We can only hope that as Brown is now following Hoovers failed polices he will suffer the same fate, but he needs to go a bit further if he is to really emulate Hoover who also introduced, the Mexican Repatriation program, raised tariffs on thousands of imported items in a bid to force Americans to buy American goods, he raised income tax, raised estate tax raised corporate tax, introduced a cheque tax, and on the way doubled the national debt.
The Hoover Dam was a masterful piece of engineering and is now an American Icon, but the people who paid for it did not benefit and it did not take the USA out of depression.
What Brown is doing is to borrow money now in order to try to build himself out of the hole he is in, he is therefore building into our futures a very big tax bill that will have to be paid in order to balance the books, but by then he will no longer be in office and the pain will fall on a succeeding government and succeeding generations. At least Hoover took his own medicine by making it clear to the American public that they were paying for the Emergency Relief and Construction Act.
Report abuse
also slight problem with building places and adding extras is money. Roosevelt was a rich man, I don’t think there’s anyone round here willing to build runways or big dams.
Report abuse
P Sherwood fails to realise that the Thames Estuary cannot be used as a third runway. Just look what happened when that chap in the US tried to do the same with the Hudson River.
Report abuse
Andy H, I thought he did pretty well – might have been better off in a flying boat though…
Report abuse
well said rob, from telford, the new deal was a democratic solution from FDR, the Republicans response was much as the Conservatives in the UK think now, lets just be laissez faire and get the magic of markets to self regulate
Report abuse
Indeed Simon. It was leaving it all to ‘the magic of markets’ that got us where we are today…
Report abuse
building houses won,t help our trade deficit but its better than 1000,s being on the dole and pretty soon with a lot less taxes,n.I. stamps being paid money in the kitty will dry up anyway so who will be paying for the civil servants fat pensions etc.new hospitals could be built in place of the old community ones,money is soon found to shore up the financial systems wallowing in their greed
Report abuse
actually the tories do have some ideas to save the economy, number one being get rid of clown brown and number two being cutting taxes for businesses to sort out the mess the socialists have created
Report abuse
Well said, Rob.
Given the challenges we are facing, I wonder whether Franklyn Delano Roosevelt would be investing in a Green New Deal, massive investment from the government in a green industrial revolution to boost our ailing manufacturing industry and put our economy on a new sustainable course?
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/07/21/experts-call-for-credit-and-climate-crunch-action/
Report abuse