Tag: cartoon

03/16/11

Deficit to debt

This political cartoon is the work of Herbert Johnson of the Saturday Evening Post, from the 1930s Continue reading on Examiner.com: Political Cartoon Controversy in New York Post - National progressive politics | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/progressive-politics-in-national/political-cartoon-controversy-new-york-post#ixzz1GkWD5F10

This cartoon is a reaction to the controversies around budget deficit, which FDR’s presidency is known for.
FDR during his 1st election campaign while talking about broadening government’s responsibilities advocated balanced federal budget and criticized President Hoover for excessive spending. In 1933 the passing of The Economy Act reduced salaries of government employees and cut pensions to veterans by 15%. This allowed to save 500 millions a year (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal). However during his presidency federal budget deficit had been adding up at an unprecedented pace of $24,746,949,443 on average a year according to http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html. Hover’s budget was only increased by $6,852,813,799 a year on average. Such a deficit came as a result of all the government programs that FDR created. He argued that there were two parts of federal budget – a “regular” part, which he balanced by cutting salaries etc, and the “emergency” part. The latter he justified by unique crisis the country was going through, Great Depression. The emergency budget did not have to be balanced temporarily to help the country climb out of the crisis.

03/15/11

Deal Me In

I am not sure when this cartoon was published, but it looks pretty old. It was published in the Pittsburgh Press. This cartoon took a play on the word ‘Deal.’ In this cartoon we see a poker hand of 4 Aces and a King. In poker that is 4 of a kind, a great hand. I think the author is praising the New Deal. He is saying that it is really great, just like the poker hand. The title says “It IS a New Deal,” probably referring to a “new hand” after the Great Depression. This hand is a winner, showing how the author praises the New Deal.

As we see the hand comprises of Protection of Gold, Bank Holiday, Budget Message, Inaugural Address, and Bank Legislation. In Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address he mentioned how he was going to dethrone all the bad bankers, and how he was going to help fix the mess we were in. In 1933 Roosevelt closed all the banks for 3 days. He did this in order to allow certified reviewers to check them. He wanted to make sure banks were running smoothly, and also wanted all his laws to pass. He also did not want everybody rushing to take out their money, and so he closed the banks. He also go rid of the gold standard, a change that still exists today. There were many more components to the New Deal, but this author focuses on the first few. He is in favor of the New Deal, but not all of America was aboard the same ship.