Ripped directly from Wikipedia: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (sometimes known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act)[1] was an act signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In the United States 1,028 economists signed a petition against this legislation, and after it was passed, many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods, and American exports and imports plunged by more than half. In the opinion of most economists, the Smoot-Hawley act was partially responsible for the severity of the Great Depression.[2][3]
The Tariff Act is in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, with the teacher's "This act... anyone, anyone? - Raised...", except there's a line where he's taking class attendance register and goes "Bueller - Bueller". So I mixed both references. It's definitely an in-joke for viewers of the film. :-|
