Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes
We continue the policy of not permitting any needy American who can and is willing to work to starve because the Federal Government does not provide work.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1882-1945, 32nd President of the United States (Democrat, NY), State of the Union Address, 1938
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The argument here is that since the poor working class wages are so low, that they cannot save for an emergency, therefore the society must provide for welfare for those who might otherwise starve.
It has been true for most of American history with exceptions in depressions and some of the bad recessions. However after the 2008 economic meltdown of the George W. Bush Administration and the Great Recession that followed up to the time of this interview, it had not been true and one of Brooks' political objectives was to make it so again.
This is one of the reasons that Denmark is referred to as a “Welfare State.”
The “War on Poverty” had an intellectual precursor.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which defined modern liberalism in the United States throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office.
