The Sharecropper Prodigy Read Online Free

“Taxing those who are the job creators even more is one of the reasons this depression goes on and on. They don’t want to invest their money in any type of businesses that might create jobs, for fear of onerous taxes the government might impose on their earnings. And you talk about men gambling on the stock market. Where else is the money to fund all these corporations that employ so many people gonna come from if there ain’t speculators willing to risk their money? Without them we’d still be livin’ like we did a hundred years ago. You wouldn’t have automobiles, or good farm machinery, or radios to let you know what’s happenin’ in the world.”
                  Ben took a long swig of his Dr. Pepper. Surprisingly, the men stayed quiet, waiting to see what he would say next. If I had laid down a wager, I’d have lost it. I couldn’t believe Ben had been allowed to talk this long without serious retribution.
                  Ben put his hands behind his back and started pacing like a charismatic preacher delivering a fire and brimstone sermon, “I believe, gentlemen, it all started when President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law. It raised taxes on things we imported from other countries by more than double. Well, those countries wasn’t just gonna sit back and let us get away with it. No sir, they wasn’t. So what they did was retaliate with some tariffs of their own. Taxes on cotton and other farm exports more than doubled. Automobiles made here in this country were taxed by Spain and Italy by four times the amount they had been. Then old Hoover decided he would go even further and start tryin’ to rein in the stock market. He thought it was over priced, you see. Didn’t believe those men that had created all that wealth was as smart as him and the rest of the federal government. So what did he do? He forced the banks to tighten up on their loans to anybody who was usin’ the money to buy stocks. He raised the interest rate on speculative bank loans. Now I don’t believe speculatin’ on stocks with borrowed money is a good idea, but if the banks wanted to risk it, what business is that of the government? When President Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve, the government got the power to dictate what banks do. You see, when a government interferes with free trade, well, it ain’t ever a good thing and nothing good can come from it. But once we have a government that will give some people things they ain’t earned, it’s hard to vote them out. Nobody’s gonna vote themselves out of a paycheck they get through the WPA or off whatever kind of government aid they may be getting. Hoover’s policies may have been what started the depression, but Roosevelt’s easy money policies have just made it worse. ’Til the government gets their nose out of things and allows the free market to work, I don’t see things getting any better. And once they sink their claws in something, it’s nearly impossible to pry them loose. The great men who founded this country meant for the federal government to have very limited powers. If they could see how bloated it’s gotten now, why I reckon they’d all roll over in their graves. The sow ain’t got enough tits for all the suckling pigs it’s created gentlemen.”
                  Ben stopped pacing and stood still for a minute, waiting for a response. Incredibly, no response came. The men didn’t have an answer for the little darkie who knew much more than any of them ever would about economics, or almost any other subject, for that matter.
                  As I started backing away toward the door, I said bye to my Uncle Joe who was as dumb struck as anybody else who had heard Ben. We walked out of the store slowly, as if we had just robbed it or something. I kept looking back over my shoulder, expecting to see a mob with pitch forks and burning torches come pouring out of the store at any time.