FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate

UCLA Study ^ | 8/10/04 | By Meg Sullivan

[alloysteel]

Really good satire has a number of elements, and even logical conclusions, close enough to the truth, that in some light, it is indistinguishable from actuality.

Perhaps some of the conclusions were overdrawn, but considering that the US industrial base did not get moving again until we began ramping up for war production, first as major supplier to Great Britain, then as Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union (for which we were never reimbursed, by the way), the effects of the Great Depression would have continued for far longer than the 1940’s. Only when most of the “New Deal” was dismantled starting in 1946 through the 1950’s, did the nation blossom again. The strictures of the New Deal were highly suited for a managed economy in wartime, but they are useless in a nation at relative peace.

[RaceBannon]

http://fee.org/articles/great-depression/

[RaceBannon]

http://fee.org/articles/great-depression/

[Little Bill]

You night also want to read: FDR's Folly, Jim Powell, Rethinking the Great Depression, and New Deal Or Raw Deal, Gene Smiley. Good reads.

[Moonman62]

The big recession in 1937 caused by the newly formed Federal Open Market Committee (the Federal Reserve) didn’t help either.

[Don Corleone]

Roosevelt was a Dictator in the making. The fact that Presidential term limits were enacted almost immediately after his death was proof that the American public was afraid of where he was taking this country....

[muir_redwoods]

Please read "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shlaes. Every time FDR got a chance to make a decision regarding the economy, he guessed wrong and then doubled down. Worse, because of the size of our economy, FDR kept much of the world in poverty.

It wasn't until Jimmy Carter that we found a bigger fool to sit in the White House.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Finally the truth comes out.

FDR’s policies turned what would of been a deep recession into the depression.

And if he isn’t stoppped Obama might just do the same.

[jamaksin]

FDR needed very badly the US "all the way" entry into WWII not just to increase industrial production, but also as an enormous jobs program.

After WWII, the US was a long way down the path of military commitments and acting as the arms supplier to the world, largely to counter the "Red Menace" - that "military-industrial complex" which Ike cautioned against persists.

[mulligan]

Based on the FDR era recovery period was delayed 7 years because of his interference, the current recovery period under Obama’s interference may be delayed forever. What a mess!!!!!

[businessprofessor]

I have always found Democrat support for labor cartels odd. Democrats now are strident against collusion among businesses except for government influence that forces higher prices. Democrats openly support labor cartels somehow justifying labor cartels as fair even when cartels increase taxes and reduce government services provided. One might conclude that Democrats would favor competitive bidding in government services to maximize the amount of services provided.

In my mind, disdain for property rights is the overriding mindset of Democrats. The more wealth and income, the greater the disrespect by Democrats for property rights. Democrats spend every waking moment concocking schemes to violate property rights and destroying incentives to produce. Democrat schemes are essentially transferring property rights from producers who bear risks to workers bearing no risks. Democrats feel the natural order is to force risk bearing producers to transfer property rights to favored worker groups. Thus we see incredible income by relatively low skilled workers (bus drivers, auto workers, dock workers, and government workers). Democrats then transfer immutable property rights through ridiculous claims to retirement compensation. These groups have strong contractual rights to force risk bearing producers and taxpayers to pay for their property rights acquired through legalized theft. Who needs the mob for enforcement when the Democrats enforce through the state?

[Erasmus]

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.

Notice the passive voice. Thought by whom? Answer: Keynesians and other statists, which includes essentially all journalists, and govermnent-sycophant "economists."

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Works Progress Administration (WPA)— AKA... “We Piddle Around”.

So said my grandma who raised seven kids during the Depression.

[EGPWS]

“Wet Pants Annie” is what I grew up with.

WPA was in the concrete at the end of all sidewalks in my home town.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***WPA was in the concrete at the end of all sidewalks in my home town.**

I remember when almost all sidewalks had that logo on them. There is still a WPA Road near here.

[Fiddlstix]

Not news to me. My parents (and grandparents) hated FDR. When I was growing up I remember hearing them talking about how FDR’s policies made things worse not better.

[EGPWS]

I remember when almost all sidewalks had that logo on them. There is still a WPA Road near here.

Cost a lot of money just to keep "voters" busy and content during bad times.

It's part of the reason for the longevity of the great depression.

[EGPWS]

For a great treatise of the Great Depression read The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes.

Haven't read any of her books however she sure has impressed me via interviews that I have listened to and watched.

[tet68]

“We found that a relapse isn’t likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies.”

“Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened.”

Looks like it’s going to be a long cold recovery.

[Little Bill]

As did my Grandpa, he hated FRD as the Destroyer of the Constitution, First Dictator of The United States, and as an aside in later life, a communist.

---