need help refuting liberal talking points on FDR's New Deal

MaineStateGOP

[mainestategop]

I am currently planning an essay and a youtube presentation about FDR's new deal. I want to refute claims that it brought an end to the Great Depresion and show that it actually made the depresion worse. I've been getting a lot of moonbats on Youtube and my blog claiming that Obama's stimulus package will save America the way FDRs new Deal did. :ROLLS EYES: I need some help refuting them.

Articles, graphs, you could reference would be appreciated. Thanks.

[SeeSharp]

...I'm not arguing anything

Sure you are. You are arguing that WWII ended the depression and that it did so because of war production. Aren't you?

In that case the broken window fallacy argument holds. War materials production doesn't expand the economy. Only consumer goods production does.

Pick up any book on basic economics and you'll find that a major factor, if not the #1 factor, that defines an economic downturn, as in a depression or a recession, is high unemployment rates.

No. Recession is defined as a lack of growth in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters. Unemployment may or may not be present and is usually referred to only as an indicator. In fact historically recessions are usually well over before unemployment begins to abate.

[Reagan Man]

Let me remind you. The subject matter of this article thread has to do with whether or not the New Deal brought an end to the Great Depression. Stating historic facts in a relevant and coherent manner, is my effort to make a basic point related to the subject matter of the article thread, as opposed to your personal opinions based on an economic theory. I say, the New Deal didn't end the Great Depression. WWII did. You raised the issue of Bastiat's "broken windows fallacy". Not me.

You can postulate to your hearts content. So, call it what you like --- unintended consequences, broken windows fallacy, or whatever. I don't care. Now, stop being obtuse.

The definition of a recession (or a depression) isn't embedded in concrete. There are many opinions over what aspects should be or shouldn't be included. Just Goggle, "define:economic recession" and see what you get.

~ In economics, a recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a sustained period of time, or a business cycle contraction. ...

~ A slowdown in economic activity marked by less consumer spending and often also by higher unemployment.

~ A temporary slow-down in economic growth

~ A decline in economic activity (GDP) that persists for at least two quarters...

On top of that, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) at the forefront of the US economy since 1920, gives a more broad definition.

A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion. Expansion is the normal state of the economy; most recessions are brief and they have been rare in recent decades. Link

[Reagan Man]

oops, Google, not “Goggle”.