LETTERS: Tough Questions for Defenders of the New Deal

The Wall Street Journal ^ | November 6, 2003 | Jim Powell

[OESY]

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the launching of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, so it's a good time to debate his policies, which have had an immense influence and which remain controversial.

1. Why did FDR triple federal taxes during the Great Depression? Federal tax revenues more than tripled, from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940. Excise taxes, personal income taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income taxes, holding company taxes and "excess profits" taxes all went up. FDR introduced an undistributed profits tax. Consumers had less money to spend, and employers had less money for growth and jobs.

[trebb]

If Roosevelt hadn't died and elevated Truman to the Presidency, there is no telling how WWII would have really turned out...

[T Lady]

This is some truly explosive stuff, literally shattering every single myth that was planted into our heads by the Democratic Party by way of the Public School propaganda.

It is utterly amazing how much Joseph P. Lash, author of the biography, 'Eleanor and Franklin' actually omitted from his recounting of the FDR presidency. When I did a term paper on FDR in the 9th grade (in 1976, the same year the ABC miniseries premired), I had no recollection of such facts; the only 'dark' side of FDR presented was his affair with Lucy Mercer, whom I believe was his private secretary or aide. Other than that, nothing. While it may have been admirable that Eleanor Roosevelt lobbied for Marion Anderson (the Black Opera singer) to sing at (either) the Metropolitan Opera or the on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, these current revelations of FDR's economic policies are disasterous, and have had a crippling effect on the United States government.
...But don't look for 'FDR's Folly' in any local library; this would definitely shatter the wonderful, almost god-like status of this former president. At least in the minds of liberal librarians, and city council members.

-Regards, T.

[Sinner6]

9. How did the Tennessee Valley Authority become a drag on the economy?

I have heard that the TVA was sometimes called the NRA( N****r Removal Act). Mainly because TVA used emminant domain to take land in its activities, most of the land took was from black sharecroppers.

[T Lady]

"I have heard that the TVA was sometimes called the NRA (N****r Removal Act). Mainly because TVA used emminant domain to take land in its activities, most of the land took was from black sharecroppers."

...Another wonderful legacy of the Democrat Party.

-Regards, T.