Hi Ranty Nation!  Ranty McRantyson har agin!

Well, ah gotta tell y’all that this har talk shure has taken a lot longer than ah furst thunk it wud!  Ah’ve bin busier’n a one legged tap dancer wit mah time off an researchin all this stuff to make shure it holds up!

In Part 1, ah talked bout the differnces tween the two Presidents durin The Great Depression.  An a bit bout how we’all’re in a similar situation.

In Part 2, ah talked about the differences tween the two Presidents we’all’ve got durin the current pandemic an economic crisis.

Har in this Part 3, ah’m gonna talk bout the two Presidents who’ve tried to deal with our current crisis.  Which Great Depression President Pres Trump seems to be most like.  An then ah’ll finish wit whut Great Depression President ah thunk Pres Biden’ll be most like.

Anyhoo, let’s git on to Part 3!

Which Great Depression President was Pres Trump Most Like?

If’n y’all dun read Part 1 an Part 2, y’all know which Great Depression President ah thunk Pres Trump’s like.  In mah opinion, Pres Trump’s a shoe-in fur a modern day Pres Hoover.

Pres Trump was messin up the country befur 2020.  He was President durin a huge national crisis (COVID-19).  He did all the wrong thangs to “deal” wit the problems.  Pres Trump wuz just the wrong person fur the job, at the wrong time.

However, Pres Trump did have one additional strike against him in 2020.  He wuz responsible fur at least 1/2 of the deaths by Lection Day (an beyond).  We’re, as a country, at over 530,000 deaths now.  An so many folk cud be alive if’n he had taken his responsibilities seriously.

Basically, if’n y’all look back at the 2016 Presidential Primaries and General Lection, it’d be purty hard to find sumone who’d be wurse!  They wuz over 15 Republican Presidential “hopefuls” in the Republican Primary.  An jus bout any of them wudda dun a better job.  Then they wuz bout 10 Democratic Presidential “hopefuls”.  An y’all probly already guessed ah thunk mosta them wudda dun a better job too.

Whut Great Depression President is Pres Biden Most Like?

This answer to this question is still bein told.  Wit recent successes, ah’m kinda leanin mostly toward Pres FDR, wit some bits tween both, an wit a couple hints of Pres Hoover.  Let’s take a closer look to see whut path Pres Biden’s followin.

Pres Biden Today an Tomorrow

Let’s take a look at the gud an not-so-gud…

Whut Pres Biden’s Dun Gud

So, today Pres Biden’s got the American Rescue Act in his pocket.  He’s also got more vaccines into Merican arms than anything ol Pres Trump even planned on gittin! Not to mention he dun reversed sum of the wurst Executive Orders/policies Pres Trump dun signed.

Pres Biden says he’s gonna keep fightin fur the $15/hr minimum wage increase.  Tho ah have to admit ah don’t know how he’s plannin on gittin it passed.  Witout dramatically revamping the fillibuster, or gittin rid of it altogether, ah don’t know how he’s gonna git it passed.  Cuz they ain’t a single Republican that’ll agree to it an it takes 60 votes to bust a fillibuster.  That’s 10 more votes’n the Democrats have (assumin Sen Manchin (WV) an Sen Sinema (AZ) will vote fur it).

An Pres Biden has a lot of infrastruture spendin he wants to do to git more jobs fur Merican wurkers.  An the Republican’s don’t wanna do that neither.  An that doesn’t even include all the “time bombs” Pres Trump an the rest of the Republican dun left him.

Whut Pres Biden’s Dun That’s Not-So-Gud

Unfurtunately, Pres Biden also has a couple strikes aginst him.  He had a chance to fight fur the $15/hr minimum wage, but chose not to.  Shure, the Senate “Parlementarian” “ruled” that it didn’t belong in the American Rescue Act.  But most folk don’t know that the Parlementarian’s decision is little more than a recommendation or guidance.  An that it has bin overridden in the past.

The fact is, wit Pres Biden’s support, VP Harris cudda overrulled the Parlementarian an kept it in the bill.  Course that wudda made it harder to pass since 8 Democrats voted aginst Sen Sander’s amendment to include it anyway.  But they cudda at least tried passin it wit the minimum wage in there an taken it out if it failed.

Another disappointin thang is Pres Biden has only nominated one Progressive Cabinet member.  If’n it weren’t fur the Progressives that supported him, Pres Biden wudn’t have bin elected.  But he chose to only try to git one Progressive in his adminstration.  An it dun be great to see a Native American woman in his Cabinet, but Ms Haaland don’t have much pull wit the economy or social justice as Secretary of the Interior.  An economic an social justice bin two of the primary thangs that got him lected.

The Bottom Line (Biden Edition)

Pres Biden’s plan’ll do more fur Mericans than most Presidents in the last 50+ years.  However, he dun need sum help!  We gotta keep pushin him in the “progressive” direction so as he won’t fall fur the BS that most “career” politicians in Washington, DC’ll try to push him.

Basically, ah thunk Pres Biden be a gud man at heart.  The problem be that he dun bin in Washinton, DC fur so long that he’s surrounded by folk who ain’t all that gud.  An theys fillin his head wit thangs that just ain’t him.  But!  He dun be an adult an has to account fur his actions.  Ah jus hope folk who be more Libral/Prugressive will git him to follow Pres FDR.

How to Help Pres Biden to Choose to be Pres FDR-like

Well, Sen Bernie Sanders has a couple suggestions fur ways that Pres Biden cud be more “FDR-like”.  Sen Sanders thunks that they’s a few major points to cover that’s set Pres Biden up to be the modern version of FDR.

Criminal Justice

Pres Biden dun be regrettin the damage caused by a lotta thangs in the 1984 “Crime Bill”.  Those thangs have led to a lot of social an racial injustice in law enforcement an the courts.  Ah thunk he’s determined to fix them thangs an doin so’ll help calm a lotta the social strife we dun be experiencin.  Not all of it, mind you, but sum.

Immigration

Ah’m the grandson of immigrants on both sides of mah family.  Cuz of mah granparents ah herd a lotta stories bout whut it wuz like to move to an live in the US both befur an after the Great Depression.  An even wit such a tough experience, all mah granparents loved the gud ol US of A!

Their stories helped me realize sumthin.  Folks that have bin born an raised here in Merica are the foundation of our country.  Kinda like the cake jus after you pull it outta the oven.  Mmm, great stuff!  But immigrants, like mah granparents’re the icing that makes the cake jus that much better.  By theyselfs, they’s really gud, but together they’re jus, well, fantastic.

That’s why so many historians point out that our country’s greatest strength is the fact that we are a nation of immigrants.  Those strong an determined nuff to git here an fight to survive made our entire country stronger.  We wuz gittin a constant “infusion” of fresh blood to keep us strong.  Unlike the countries these immigrants came frum, we wuz gittin they’s most determined, an often most talented, folk.  That drive dun made our country whut it is today.  It helped give us that “can-do attitude” cuz our (immigrant) ancestors already did!

So, ah say, if’n they pass the requirements to come to Merica, then “welcome”.  Ah look furward to seein them an watchin our country grow.

Healthcare

We’all dun be in (ah hope) the last thurd of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Unfurtunately, cuz the response of the previous President’s administration wuz so bad wit they’s COVID-19 response, we dun have over 530,000 Merican’s dead.  An ah place the blame fur at least half of them at the feet of Pres Trump.

Hillary Clinton (1993)

In 1993, Hillary Clinton furst proposed a “Medicare for All”-like plan fur all Mericans.  Problem wit her plan wuz it wuzn’t as gud as a lot of plans most folks had wit they’s employers (it wuz wurse than an “average” plan back then).  Sad thang is that an “average” plan back then wuz better’n whut a gud plan has now.  Mostly cuz of the decline of unions har in the US.

Frum whut ah can remember, the biggest problem wit her plan wuz that it (1) didn’t cover ever thang that Medicare did at the time an (2) it didn’t allow fur folks to buy supplement policies like a lotta retired folk can do now wit they’s Medicare Supplement Plans.

Pres Barack Obama (2008)

Back in the 2007 Presidential Lection, then Sen Obama suggested we’all har in the US shud try fur “Medicare for All”.  Problem wuz that Pres Obama wuzn’t a very gud negotiator an by the time he got a plan passed, folks didn’t even git a “Medicare-like Public Option”.  They jus got a subsidy fur private insurance plans.  Still, even tho Pres Obama didn’t git everone an insurance plan, they did git over 25 million uninsured an under-insured folk insurance who didn’t have it befur the American Care Act wuz passed!

Sen Bernie Sanders (2016)

Wit the 2016 Presidential Lection, Sen Bernie Sanders proposed a full “Medicare for All” plan.  This plan improved on jus bout all private insurance plans an even improved whut seniors be gittin wit Medicare right now!  (Full details of the actual Medicare for ALL Act of 2019 (S. 1129).)

Pres Biden an Healthcare

Ah don’t rightly know if’n Pres Biden’s ready fur a full on “Medicare fur All” plan.  But ah know he dun wants to at least expand the ACA so more folks can git insurance an those that have it can git better insurance.  Time’ll tell on this one.

Energy an Infrastructure

Ah’m gonna talk bout these two seperate-like.  Ah’m gonna do this cuz they address two differnt aspects of problems we’all’ve gotta deal wit.  Climate (energy) an the crumblin infrastructure (roads, bridges, buildins, etc.).

Energy

While a lotta Progressives’d love fur Pres Biden to support a full “Green New Deal”, ah jus don’t thunk that’ll happen.  But ah do thunk that he’s gonna do a few thangs to git Merica off’n relyin on “fossil fuels” fur our energy needs an move toward a mostly renewable energy powered economy.  Ah know many of y’all readin this may not thunk “climate change” is real.  Or if’n y’all do thunk it is, y’all probly don’t thunk it be caused by folk, but is jus a “natural” event.

Ah hate to break it to y’all, but if’n y’all don’t “believe” in climate change, it don’t make no differnce cuz it’s happenin anyhoo an we can stop the wurst of the damage.  But we can’t keep diggin up carbon that’s bin buried in the Earth fur millions of years an burnin it.  The Earth won’t end, but it’ll cause the deaths an misery of millions, an maybe billions, of folk around the wurld.  An that does mean har in the US.

Pres Biden’s plan is to keep the country movin toward renewable energy.  An, at the same time, update the energy infrastructure so as we can use it when an where we need it.

Infrastructure

Back in the furst 75 or so years of the 1900s, our parents an granparents dun spent a lotta time an money an energy buildin up our current infrastructure.  They built over 620,000 miles (yep, that’s correct) of new roads an highways, bridges, schools, libraries, public buildins, the energy grid, modern sewer systems, etc.  Not cuz they needed it then, but cuz they knew that the US wud need it in the future so as it cud grow!

An we’all have bin enjoyin an growin cuz of they’s investment in our country’s future.  Unfurtunately, fur the last 50 or so years we ain’t bin spendin enuf money to keep whut we dun got frum them, much less build more to handle whut is now 3-4 times the population of when all that stuff wuz built!

Our highways’re full of potholes, our bridges’re failin, our schools’re too small fur the number of students they got, an our public buildins’re startin to fall apart.  It’s amazin that whut was built so long ago has held up as well as it has.  Our parents an granparents dun built to last an wit an eye to our needs in the future.

Unfurtunately, cuz our politicians dun neglected thangs so much, we’all got us a heap-load of stuff that needs fixin an even outright replacin.  An that don’t even touch how much new infrastructure we need fur right now, much less whut we need fur the next 50 or so years.

In other wurds, we need to do our own “New Deal” of the scope of whut our parents an granparents did in the furst half of the 20th century (the 1900s).  That’s gonna cost money, but they’s gud news that comes wit that.  It’ll create a lot of new, gud payin jobs an will enable the growth our economy needs fur us to compete har in the 21st century!  In mah opinion, enuf new, gud payin job an growth to pay fur itself… jus like the wurk our parents an granparents did!

#46FDRorHoover

Well, whaddaya thunk?  Will Pres Biden be: #46FDRorHoover

Frankly, right now, ah thunk it’s a crap shoot.  Ah hope Pres Biden’ll move further left as he seems to have bin movin in that direction over the last dozen or so years.  Probly thanks to bein in Pres Obama’s administration.  But he seems to keep listenin to that Republican siren song of, “Come on Joe, listen to us an we’ll be yur buds!  Just do as we ask an we’ll do sum stuff fur you sum time in the future…”  Wit the American Rescue Plan they’s signs he’ll snap outta it, cuz they’s no way the Republicans are gonna pass anythin that Democrats want (at least unless it’s watered down to almost nuttin).

Time’ll tell…

Let me know in the comments section below!

Ranty McRantyson signin off!

PS.  While researchin this har talk, ah ran cross this YouTube video frum Politico bout theys take on whether Pres Biden might be a FDR or Hoover style President.