229: Teapot Dome

Period postcard photo, showing the rock formation that gives “Teapot Dome” its name.

Following the Veterans’ Bureau scandals, the Senate investigation into the Teapot Dome drilling leases reveals blatant corruption in the Interior Department.

The Black Sox baseball scandal broke at about the same time. This series of revelations made a generation of young Americans cynical and skeptical of their elders.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“I’m Just Wild About Harry”
Composed in 1921 by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. Public domain.

Closing Theme 



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

2 thoughts on “229: Teapot Dome

    • The Kennedy tax cut is a dubious case. Incomes were rising rapidly during that period anyway. There’s a huge difference between saying “the loss of revenue from this tax cut will be made up in a few years by economic growth” and saying “the loss of revenue from this tax cut will be made up in a few years by economic growth *that would not have happened but for the tax cut.*” The Federal government *raised* taxes under Clinton and supply-side advocates predicted a deep recession. Instead, the US got economic growth that exceeded what came after the Reagan tax cuts of 1981. The link between tax rates and economic growth is not so simple. I would also note this 2012 survey of leading economists by the University of Chicago School of Business, in which not one of the respondents was willing to agree with the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves in economic growth: https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/laffer-curve/

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