Calvin Coolidge was all about the Benjamins—saving the Benjamins, to be more specific. He wanted to put money back in the pocket of average Americans, and the way he did that was to drastically cut taxes. That way, people could buy stuff instead of handing it over to the government. And if credit was easy to get, well, they could buy even more stuff.
Coolidge was confident that tax cuts and government spending cuts would keep the prosperity of the '20s roaring. If the government only would butt out and let corporations flourish free of regulation and high taxes, the rising tide of prosperity would lift all boats, as they say. Since Coolidge's day, this approach has been called everything from supply-side economics and the "trickle-down" theory, to "voodoo economics" (the last by George H.W. Bush). Cut taxes for the rich, and the cuts will pay for themselves.
Of course, Coolidge's economic policies may have helped cause economic problems down the line, but in 1925 everything was all sunshine and illegal champagne.
Questions About Wealth
- What's Coolidge's primary concern with regards to the American economy? What's he trying to achieve?
- How do Coolidge's economic ideas compare to other 20th-century presidents?
- How would you summarize Coolidge's financial policy?
- Do you see any of Coolidge's ideas about wealth and financial policy in place or being debated today?
Chew on This
It wasn't so much that Coolidge wanted everyone to be wealthy, he just didn't think the federal government should play any role in that outcome.
The fact that the U.S. could loan scads of money to Europe while cutting taxes shows just how baller the economy was in the early 1920s.