Speaker criticizes economics of Depression
Presentation alludes to parallels between Roosevelt administration, Obama
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Campus News
Strewn across the tops of desks in a Schneider Hall lecture auditorium Tuesday night were copies of Libertas, the magazine of the Virginia-based conservative group, Young America's Foundation.
The front of the magazine featured a montage of TIME Magazine and Newsweek covers set against a jet-black background, with all of them sharing one thing in common - they all featured large, front-page photographs of President Barack Obama. Emblazoned across the Libertas' cover and obscuring much of the motif was a single bold word - "ENOUGH!"
But for all the attention the magazine's cover seemed to pay him, Obama's name was scarcely mentioned Tuesday evening during a conservative economic presentation held in Schneider 100, where copies of the magazine were distributed for audience members' perusal.
Instead, it was former President Franklin D. Roosevelt who landed a prominent spot in guest speaker Burt Folsom's presentation titled "New Deal or Raw Deal?"
Folsom, a history professor at Michigan's Hillsdale College and the author of several books, spent most of his time commenting on Roosevelt's New Deal rather than directly addressing the Obama administration's economic policies.
Then again, that didn't mean Folsom didn't have a point or two to make about Obama.
"He was mainly laying out everything that happened during the Great Depression that FDR's administration did push through, with the subliminal message that a lot of those things are being done by the current administration," said sophomore and Student Senator Jacob Kampen, a member of the UW-Eau Claire Conservative Union, one of the presentation's sponsors. The Young America's Foundation also sponsored the event.
Unemployment remained high throughout the 1930s, Folsom said, adding that taxes and government spending also increased during that time.
In the previous 10 years, Folsom said, President Calvin Coolidge resisted suggestions to enact stimulus packages to boost a waning post-World War I economy, choosing instead to cut taxes and federal spending. Those decisions, he said, helped the country prosper throughout the decade.
The front of the magazine featured a montage of TIME Magazine and Newsweek covers set against a jet-black background, with all of them sharing one thing in common - they all featured large, front-page photographs of President Barack Obama. Emblazoned across the Libertas' cover and obscuring much of the motif was a single bold word - "ENOUGH!"
But for all the attention the magazine's cover seemed to pay him, Obama's name was scarcely mentioned Tuesday evening during a conservative economic presentation held in Schneider 100, where copies of the magazine were distributed for audience members' perusal.
Instead, it was former President Franklin D. Roosevelt who landed a prominent spot in guest speaker Burt Folsom's presentation titled "New Deal or Raw Deal?"
Folsom, a history professor at Michigan's Hillsdale College and the author of several books, spent most of his time commenting on Roosevelt's New Deal rather than directly addressing the Obama administration's economic policies.
Then again, that didn't mean Folsom didn't have a point or two to make about Obama.
"He was mainly laying out everything that happened during the Great Depression that FDR's administration did push through, with the subliminal message that a lot of those things are being done by the current administration," said sophomore and Student Senator Jacob Kampen, a member of the UW-Eau Claire Conservative Union, one of the presentation's sponsors. The Young America's Foundation also sponsored the event.
Unemployment remained high throughout the 1930s, Folsom said, adding that taxes and government spending also increased during that time.
In the previous 10 years, Folsom said, President Calvin Coolidge resisted suggestions to enact stimulus packages to boost a waning post-World War I economy, choosing instead to cut taxes and federal spending. Those decisions, he said, helped the country prosper throughout the decade.
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