I tend to agree that the gold-sterilization policy was the primary cause of the recession within a depression. Secondary causes were the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 and Roosevelt’s threats to tax corporate retained earnings.
The former set off a firestorm of strikes and violent union organization. The latter, designed to get business to invest, served only to reinforce fears and led business to cling to its capital more fiercely.
In the end, FDR’s patrician disdain for common merchants (capitalists) caused him to implement scores of policies which worked against what he claimed to promote. It’s interesting to re-live those times now.
Outstanding and correct. Patrician, here meaning arrogant, is completely accurate and describes liberals to a T. Their desire for elitism causes them to disdain all others as unsuited to the task. That's Obama & Co.
FDR's antisemitism was also a cause and is repeated by Obama.