How do the steps taken by Hoover to help the economy compare to the steps taken by our present government to help our present economy?

The major steps taken by President Hoover to end the
Depression were:

• Attempts to reassure businesses
  and the public and persuade them that things would get
  better.


• Having the federal government loan money on easy
  terms so that banks would get that money and lend it out again.
  


• Public works
  programs

All of these are things that have been
done by the Bush and Obama administrations to try to end the problems that we now face. 
Both presidents have tried hard to convince the public that things will get better.  The
TARP program as well as the current policy of "quantitative easing" are both meant to
get banks to be able to lend money more easily.  The stimulus package passed by the
Obama administration was focused to a large extent on public
works.

The things the current government has done to try to
improve the economy are similar to what Hoover did.  I would argue that the major
difference is that Hoover did not do enough of those things.  He tried a few things, but
did not want to put a lot of money into those efforts.  To this point, the current
government has been much more aggressive than Hoover ever was.