Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.

Defense of the payroll-tax financing: the employer pays an equal share and the reserves are safe — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

Similar by solution solution · rationale

Score	Cycle	Candidate	Issue	Position
0.73	1932	Norman Thomas	Unemployment insurance	Compulsory unemployment insurance funded by employers and by higher income and inheritance taxes
0.69	1936	Alf Landon	How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go)	Repeal the compulsory old-age insurance plan; pay every needy citizen over 65 a pension from a direct, widely distributed tax
0.65	1936	Alf Landon	Unemployment insurance	Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it
0.63	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Balancing the federal budget	Balance the federal budget annually within revenues
0.63	1932	Herbert Hoover	Maintenance of wage levels in depression	Uphold wages and spread work by voluntary agreement of employers and labor; shorter hours in government service
0.62	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Unemployment insurance	Unemployment insurance under state laws
0.61	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Sickness and health insurance	Sickness insurance as a "minimum requirement" alongside old-age and unemployment insurance
0.58	1932	Herbert Hoover	Veterans' bonus and benefits	Oppose cash prepayment of the veterans' bonus, especially by fiat money
0.57	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Right to organize and bargain collectively	Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively
0.56	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Veterans' bonus and benefits	No early payment of the veterans' bonus until the budget is balanced with a cash surplus
0.56	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Farm prices and agricultural surplus	Raise staple farm prices by a tariff-equivalent benefit plus voluntary production control, at no cost to the Treasury
0.56	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Old-age pensions and social insurance	Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all
0.56	1936	Alf Landon	Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans	Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment
0.55	1932	Herbert Hoover	European war debts and reparations	No cancellation of war debts; apply any annual payment to opening foreign markets for American farm products
0.55	1936	William Lemke	Minimum wages	A 'living annual wage' -- $1,800 for a family of five -- by federal law and a constitutional amendment if necessary
0.55	1936	Huey P. Long	Distribution of national income and purchasing power	Share Our Wealth: cap fortunes, guarantee every family a homestead and income
0.55	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Public works as employment policy	'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it)
0.54	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Farm prices and agricultural surplus	Continue soil conservation and domestic allotment payments; end ruinous surpluses; commodity loans on seasonal surpluses
0.53	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Direct relief for the unemployed	Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole
0.53	1932	Herbert Hoover	Right to organize and bargain collectively	Collective bargaining by representatives of the employees' own choice, 'without the interference of any one'
0.53	1932	Norman Thomas	Sickness and health insurance	National health insurance
0.52	1932	Norman Thomas	Old-age pensions and social insurance	Old-age pensions for men and women sixty and over
0.52	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Public works as employment policy	Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment
0.52	1932	Herbert Hoover	Regulation of banks and securities	The RFC and the 'shield of Government credit' saved 5,000 institutions and must continue — but no direct government lending to everyone
0.51	1932	Herbert Hoover	Public works as employment policy	Federal construction at three times normal and $1.5 billion of RFC loans for self-liquidating works — but no pork-barrel or non-productive projects