The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

Mises Institute

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This weekly course was presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., in 2006-2007.Download the complete audio of this event (ZIP) here.

05/04/2007

14. Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression

Boom-busts were a feature of markets. Under consumption caused the depression. WWII ended the Great Depression. All three Keynesian beliefs were inaccurate. Only the Austrian Business Cycle Theory got it right. Artificially lowered interest rates mislead investors. The Federal Reserve’s policy of cheap money creates mal-investments. The cause of boom-busts is this commercial credit expansion that is not backed by real pools of private savings. Herbert Hoover’s policies prolonged the Great Depression. His agricultural policy was a disaster. Raising tariffs an average of 59% on more than 25,000 items hurt. Lots of tax increases crippled businesses. Hoover sought prosperity through central planning, as did his successor, FDR, who also knew nothing about how wealth was created. Lecture 14 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
03/14/2007

13. Welfare Programs and the Great Society

From 1950 to 1980, Americans were indeed Losing Ground. Charles Murray’s book on social policy debunks welfare programs. The programs are the problem. It is not possible to design a wealth transfer program that will not produce net harm. Within Lyndon Johnson’s legacy of failure were the kids who were never educated, the health care system that was already working, and the jobs that weren’t created. ‘60s liberalism discouraged all the right things and encouraged all the wrong ones. Criminals went free. A good portion of Americans began to see welfare as a right. Lecture 13 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
03/09/2007

12. Civil Rights and the Supreme Court

The doctrine was separate but equal according to the Constitution. Segregation was not unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education consolidated several cases about separation, and stated that if schools were separate they were, ipso facto, not equal. Instead of law, sociology ruled. This influenced Roe v. Wade. By the early 70s, it was thought that you must force busing of white and black races, even for several hours daily. Affirmative action always meant huge advantages given to those under the quota program. A 1983 survey by the Department of Education could not turn up a single study that found integrated schooling to have had any appreciable effect on black educational achievement. Meanwhile, net black migration has been overwhelmingly away from the North and toward the South, the only region in the country where a majority of blacks polled say they believe they are treated equally. Lecture 12 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
02/28/2007

11. The History of Foreign Aid Programs

The Marshall Plan didn’t help get Europe back on its feet: free markets did. The Plan was another failed giveaway program. The Plan’s disastrous legacy was the wrongheaded approach it inspired in foreign aid programs for the rest of the century. Just throwing money at countries was not beneficial. Aid dependency made people political, not productive. The message that should have been sent was that prosperity follows from rule of law, respect for private property, and other institutional mechanisms on which the market order rests. A study of ninety -seven countries, including Egypt and Zambia, revealed that foreign aid had retarded production and destroyed local incentives. Lecture 11 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
02/21/2007

10. The Economics of the New Deal and World War II

While many Americans were hungry and destitute, FDR ordered the slaughter of six million pigs and the destruction of ten million acres of cotton. Public-sector jobs created by the New Deal displaced or destroyed private-sector jobs. World War II didn’t end the Great Depression; a return to free-market activity after the war did. Lecture 10 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
02/01/2007

9. The 1920s

In the 1920s Presidents Harding and Coolidge never got close to the poll favorites of Washington, Lincoln and FDR when ranked, because they killed fewer, taxed less, made their administrations almost invisible, and sought no wealth or glory. Without grand programs, Harding and Coolidge presided over one of the most economically prosperous times in America’s history. Income tax rates fell from 73 percent to 40 percent and later to 25 percent. Most people in the lower income brackets saw most of their income tax burden eliminated altogether. Isolationist is a smear term, but in reality, the American administrations in the 1920s disarmed naval ordinance, joined the Four Power Pact, and the Nine Power Pact. Holding international meetings is hardly isolationist action. Starting the Student Exchange Program fostered international relations. Lecture 9 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
11/16/2006

8. Myths and Facts About Big Business

Rockefeller, Carnegie, Dow, Hill, and other great American businessmen did more for America than all the big-government programs combined. These men were market entrepreneurs, not political ones. Thanks to government subsidies, political entrepreneurs often built inefficient circuitous routes for many of America’s railroads, resulting in waste and corruption. Antitrust laws were demanded by competitors who were jealous of more successful businesses, not by consumers. Predatory pricing is a myth. The courts say that you are predatory if you cut prices, raise prices, or leave them where they are. Natural monopolies don’t last long because entrepreneurs see opportunities and move on them. The only monopolies that stand are those boosted by government interventions. Lecture 8 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.
11/08/2006

7. Reconstruction

Reconstruction is the readmission of the Southern states to the Union. Lincoln decided that ten percent of the eligible voters in 1860 had to take an oath of loyalty to the Union. Andrew Johnson, after Lincoln, added that wealthy Southern Planters had to beg for pardons. The Southern states were militarily occupied. Radical Republicans wanted tougher punishment. They insisted all freed slaves get the right to vote, which would assure that the Republican Party would dominate. The Southern states did create black codes which did discriminate against blacks. The codes were modeled on Northern vagrancy laws. Southern states began protecting blacks’ rights. Southern states were ordered to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The Radicals sought to incorporate provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 into a constitutional amendment – the Fourteenth Amendment – in order that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 not be overturned as unconstitutional. Section 1 was most significant. All persons born or naturalized in the US, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the US: nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Lecture 7 of 14 from Tom Woods' The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History lecture series.

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199 Ratings

Great information

01/07/2025

Kgleasonpate

I learned so much, very good!
Tom at his best

07/11/2019

Magicmarker44

Tom Woods is one of the best historian, economists and political thinkers around. His presentations in this podcast are extremely interesting and I highly recommend it.
It’s wonderful!

03/14/2019

Pruszkowski

But what’s the name of the speaker?? What’s the name of the speaker’s book?
AKA Lies by Omission

11/14/2016

SailingTom

This is a wonderful academic look at the constitution and how the current interpretation has been distorted beyond recognition. Every parent needs to be exposed to this and their children. It appears we have already lost at least a generation. My only wish is that this had continued up to the current day. Thank you Mr Woods for doing this series.