[Tax-chick]

including his much-vaunted "brain-trust" of presumptuous and self-righteous people

Does this describe a large majority of people in government, or what?

Greatest living American thinker BTTT.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

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[marktwain]

Yes, I have read of FDR's extending and deepening the depression before. Classic liberal "create a problem, then demand a massive expansion of government in the name of solving it".

I will have to buy a copy of this book. It is probably worth it to debunk many of the FDR lovers.

[BubbaBasher]

Anyone read this yet? How about a book report if you do.
FDR's Folly

[CobaltBlue]

Some of the things FDR did were good. Shutting down all the insolvent banks, even the state banks, was probably the best. When FDR took office, he declared a Bank Holiday, and sent teams of auditors all over the country. Only solvent banks could re-open. The Great Depression turned around right then and there.

Unfortunately, it had a long way to go.

Sowell is right that the Federal Reserve did raise interest rates again and put the country back into depression circa 1936, but that was due to trying to maintain the US gold supply. There just wasn't enough gold in the whole world to have gold-backed money without deflation and depression.

It's possible that letting the gold/dollar ratio "float" would have worked, but they've never done that. The "gold standard" gold/dollar-gold/pound ratio has always been dictated by central bankers.

[Mrs Zip]

ping

[yankeedame]

Scholarly studies of the history of these two administrations have in recent years come to see FDR's New Deal as Herbert Hoover's policies writ large and in bolder strokes.

What has always puzzled me by Hoover's actions was the fact that as a "civilian" he was a highly successful businessman/owner and one of the (if not the) wealthest mining enginers on earth. I can only assume that he was struck down with Potomic Fever.

[Blood of Tyrants]

don't forget teh beginning of the biggest Ponzi scheme and the beginning of the transfer of wealth in history, i.e. Socialistic Insecurity, and payroll income tax withholding that allowed the government to steal more money from the people a small bite at a time.

[biblewonk]

In reality, both presidents represented a major break with the past by casting the federal government in the role of rescuer of the economy in its distress.

To suggest that this is not a priority of the government is either stupidity or a lie. Ofcourse the Federal government should do what it can to help the economy.

[Savage Beast]

The United States is still suffering from the results of the Franklin Roosevelt administration and the Democrat Party that he designed. My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were all Democrats. My parents and grandparents were enthusiastic supporters of Franklin Roosevelt. Were they alive today, they would repudiate the Democrat Party and what it stands for absolutely and in no uncertain terms. Had they known where F. Roosevelt and his policies were leading the U.S., they would never have given him their support.

[Sam Cree]

bttt

[VOA]

This book is an education in itself, both in history and in economics. It is also a warning
of what can happen when leaders are chosen for their charm, charisma and rhetoric.

Question to the forum...has anyone heard the author (Powell) on any
talk radio shows?
I listen to lots of shows (Ingraham, Prager, Medved, Hewitt, etc.) and haven't
heard (or missed) this writer or discussion of this book.

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

And don't forget LBJ for continuing and enlarging the "New Deal" into the "Great Society" program.

Both of these programs did great damage to the US economy and it is still doing so today!

[Cobra Scott]

Probably a good precursor to Coulter's Treason.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

You might be interested in this. The book review indicates that tariffs were considered but a rather small part of the problem (and it seems they were misapplied - not for reciprocity or to level the playing field).
FDR tripled taxes and a host of other badly judged government intervention that contributed to and greatly extended this world-wide depression.

[Eastbound]

Cyclic massive transfer of wealth. Expansion-contraction is just a continual nibble. Every once in a while, money is short for a long time. Hey, that's what the Fed does. They get the gold, we get the shaft.

[Cyber Ninja]

Good

[Destructor]

"They say "truth will out" but sometimes it takes a long time. For more than half a century, it has been a "well-known fact" that President Franklin D. Roosevelt got us out of the Great Depression of the 1930s."

Wrong. World War II got us out of the Great Depression!

[logician2u]

The book is also available from Laissez-Faire Books, and for less than the Amazon price!

FDR'S FOLLY