Posted on 01/10/2009 11:39:17 AM PST by FocusNexus
Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.
"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump," said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA's Department of Economics. "We found that a relapse isn't likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies."
"The fact that the Depression dragged on for years convinced generations of economists and policy-makers that capitalism could not be trusted to recover from depressions and that significant government intervention was required to achieve good outcomes," Cole said. "Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsroom.ucla.edu ...
Excellent article. Thanks for posting.
Another article to consider for your ping list.
Related article, posted by Golddigger3:
Obama’s Choice: FDR or Reagan [FDR’s Treasury Sec. said Fed spending “does not work”]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2162234/posts
May 1939, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau testified:
“We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. ... I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. ... I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... and an enormous debt, to boot.”
Yes it is, and it took a world war to change direction and the economy didn't hit 0 +/- until the early fifties.
it’s 4 1/2 years old, but I agree it’s an excellent article, particularly with Lucas, the ‘95 Nobel winner endorsing its validity. However, I’m disappointed that its conclusions have been studiously ignored even on FR.
“Don’t let a crisis go to waste.”
not according to their research, which said trust-busting by the DOJ did it.
“Don’t let a crisis go to waste.â€
Exaclty. Obama and the Democrats don’t care about stimulating the economy, they just want to use this to take and consolidate power and push through their agenda.
Excellent article. Just a shame that the DhimmiRat LibTards can’t read...
Yes but look at all of the votes the democratic party has been able to purchase. And that, after all, is the point of “good government”, isn’t it!
equals "political finger to the wind" decision making for personal gain via suckering of the masses for votes.
this is , I think, the real importance of Obama's debate with Joe the plumber-- he doesn't want competition either, doesn't want little guys going out and starting their own busineses, much happier with everybody having worker-union-proletariat concerns.
How to get this into public discussion? Certainly the majority of the American people WANT the economy to get better, and here is a real serious clue how NOT to, yet Obama is heading down this wrong path.
Can’t this get discussed in the public, so that there is some back and forth about “stimulus policies”?
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
Yes it is an excellent article. Unfortunately for us, the damRats never learn from history.
This depression will be far worse and there will be no recovery. Obamas mission is to destroy capitalism and he will succed.
I call BS to the increase in the passed Congress’ Minimum Wages which increased July 2008 and will increase again July 2009.
I call BS to Obama's/Congress' stimulus plan. if he/they really wanted to stimulate the economy WITHOUT a power grab he/they would be doing these things:
1. Decrease the Corporate Tax Rate equal to Ireland's.
2. Decrease Capital Gains Tax to 10%
3. Decrease Taxes on Savings Account
4. Personal Income Taxes:
4a. For one year extreme decrease in marginal rates
4b. Slowly increase the marginal rates over the next seven years.
5. For manufactures decrease depreciation
Exaclty. Obama and the Democrats don’t care about stimulating the economy, they just want to use this to take and consolidate power and push through their agenda.
It’s not like the Dims were lucky in this economic recession/depression happening just as they are taking power. THEY CREATED IT, just as FDR created the Great Depression of the 1930s. Obama, like FDR, wants to turn America into a Communist state, so that’s why they made this economic crisis happen now.
If there’s a tiny little ray of hope, it’s that Congress is so tied up struggling over who’s going to get what in this giant package of freebees, that the bill may be so compromised as to have little impact, and the groundwork for the recovery may have been sufficiently established by the time they pass it that even their meddling can’t screw it up.
Whereupon, of course, they’ll take credit for having created the recovery.
In my neighborhood in Southern California there’s four bedroom houses selling for 250 grand and little ‘starter’ cottages for just over a hundred. With mortgages in the fives now, we’ve almost returned to the point where affordability is at the traditional level.
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