Did FDR's Policies Make the Great Depression Last Longer?

[clb09]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/02/sirota_fdr_depression/

Conservatives' newest talking point -- designed to stop Congress from passing an economic stimulus package -- is breathtaking.

 

[cheapseats]

The American economy was WORSE in 1939 than when the market crashed in 1929.

WWII is what saved our bacon.

 

[Agent CSL]

WWII is what saved our bacon.

This is what I expect.

 

[Anti Federalist]

This is a surprise coming from Salon?

I'm all for it, bring on a giant New Deal II, bigger the better.

It's all being done, bailouts and all the rest, with freakin' money that doesn't exist, it's all freakin fugazi.

The faster the rest of the world realizes we're broke and cannot pay back our now $15 TRILLION debt, the faster the currency and government collapses and the faster we can try and rebuild something or secede.

 

[Brassmouth]

WWII is what saved our bacon.

Leave.

 

[orafi]

The American economy was WORSE in 1939 than when the market crashed in 1929.

WWII is what saved our bacon.

Or reduced government spending and less regulations after the war.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Leave.

Why?

Is it not a fact, that WWII, for many different reasons, was the cause that ended the depression?

Not New Deal meddling?

 

[cheapseats]

Why?

Is it not a fact, that WWII, for many different reasons, was the cause that ended the depression?

Not New Deal meddling?

Yes, it was.

Leave.

And screw you, twice -- once for being a Fake Libertarian and again for being an asshole.

 

[LibertyEagle]

I dunno guys. WWII didn't end the Depression, from my understanding. It put people back to work, yes. But, the war also cost us an enormous amount of money. Think about it. We manufactured planes, tanks and bullets that were destroyed or blown up. Where do you think this money came from?

 

[cheapseats]

I dunno guys. WWII didn't end the Depression, from my understanding. It put people back to work, yes.

"Put people back to work" is like saying "we use a little oil."

Our galvanization for WWII, an unprecedented marshaling of Labor and Materials AND ORDERS FOR ARMAMENTS AND MUNITIONS, is what gave us the Fabulous Fifties -- and all the feel-good fucking around that gave us the Baby Boom.

Sometimes a surprising number of you sound like you might still be in your Teens & Twenties, ye of the not-quite-baked Judgement Centers.

BTW, FYI, a surprising number of you are rude and insolent, too. It is my experience that bona fide Rednecks and Conservatives are better'n average when it comes to manners -- yes, Ma'am. A Republican-minded man in Georgia put it this way. "My Daddy told me to dress three men as Sir -- my Daddy, my boss and anyone older'n me." I am having some difficulty ascertaining Faux Libertarianism. So far I've got:

1.) Personal freedom, excepting that women shall be denied sovereignty of their own bodies.

2.) Greed is Good.

3.) We want privatized roads. RIDE ON!

4.) We feel at liberty to treat and address others as we would not ourselves like to be treated or addressed.

5.) We store food and gold coins, so stupid sheeple will know where to come when they get desperate enough to ENGAGE -- whereupon we shall enjoy mowing them down until they overpower our fire power with their sheer numbers.

6.) Shooting yourself in the foot and cutting off your nose to spite your face are small prices to pay for Liberty & Laissez Faire.

Recall that even though BOTH major-read-that-entrenched-and-corrupted parties had dissolved into WALKING DISASTERS, the Libertarians snagged, what, 5%? Less? There's gotta be some distinct reasons for that, and y'all freely insult people who remark on your wobbly platform with fresh eyes. Hybrids abound -- Shoot The Messenger Slash Looking Gift Horses In The Mouth.

You only have one chance to make a good first impression, that's the wisdom of the ages and sages.

 

[danberkeley]

Well, having millions of women join the workforce to build bombs and having millions of men go to war to die sure does lower umemployment rate. Btw, I suppose rationing is what everyone wants in their lives. I sure dont mind waiting till the end of the war to have my car bumper delivered to me. Nor do I mind having my daddy, brother, my uncle, and my school teacher go off and lose a leg or an arm in the war while mommy is at work making bombs instead of taking care me.

 

[danberkeley]

Sometimes a surprising number of you sound like you might still be in your Teens & Twenties

Oh noes! I iz not quilifiedz to postz in thiz threadz. Oh noes!

 

[amonasro]

I love the comments section. Strong cases are made on every page against the New Deal and current bailouts supported by facts and history. Yet liberals (or whatever you want to call them) are still stuck on talking point arguments, character attacks and other forms of partisan hackery. Thank god for Ron Paul to make these guys look like fools.

Here's a gem:

The right wing trolls are out in force tonight. Hey, dingalings, we've run the economy according to your laissez-faire principles for the past quarter century or so. During that time, we've gone massively into debt - personal, corporate and government - watched our industry shrivel away, seen real incomes stagnate or decline and had the cost of our private healthcare explode. And now the whole financial services sector is a smoldering crater thanks to widespread fraud and corruption.

I would no more consult with you twits regarding economic policy than I would ask Madonna to teach my daughters about chastity.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

 

[ILUVRP]

Peter Schiff said that FDR and WWll prolonged the depresion, it would have lasted 2-3 years if left alone.....Was he wrong ??

 

[Anti Federalist]

I dunno guys. WWII didn't end the Depression, from my understanding. It put people back to work, yes. But, the war also cost us an enormous amount of money. Think about it. We manufactured planes, tanks and bullets that were destroyed or blown up. Where do you think this money came from?

No, not saying for one minute that the government spending on arms is what did it, what it did is shake up the market and financial system, and put FDR onto other pursuits, leaving the economy alone.

 

[danberkeley]

I find it foolish and premature to say that WWII ended the Great Depression when it was Hoover and FDR that created it. If the government hadnt gotten involved after the Stock Market Crash of '29, there would have a been a severe but short-lived recession, but no Great Depression.

 

[Anti Federalist]

I find it foolish and premature to say that WWII ended the Great Depression when it was Hoover and FDR that created it. If the government hadnt gotten involved after the Stock Market Crash of '29, there would have a been a severe but short-lived recession, but no Great Depression.

Won't argue with that.

 

[danberkeley]

I take Cheapseats lack of response-ness-dom as sign of resignation on his behalf from this thread.

Anyway, here is a pretty good (read "laughable") comment:

@markcarbon,

Actually, there is no reason to take Mark Carbon OR David Sirota's word for this. A survey was taken of American historians and Economists, by Robert Whaples of Wake Forest University. He asked, among other things, about whether the New Deal lengthened and deepened the depression. Only 27 percent of Economists and 6 percent of Historians strongly agreed with this proposition. A further 22 percent of Economists 21 percent of Historians agreed weakly, or with provisos. 51 percent of economists and 74 percent of historians disagreed completely.

So now where deciding history and facts via democratic polls? Lolz.

While this does not make the idea that the New Deal lengthened the depression a lunatic fringe position, it is clearly a minority opinion among professional economists and historians. This makes Jarrett's claim that "historians pretty much agree on that" a bald-faced lie. A sizeable minority of economists and a small minority of historians believe this.

So one irrelevant point is wrong and, therefore, FDR is our hero?

Mark Carbon can cherry-pick facts as much as he likes, those same facts have not convinced the experts that his conclusions are right.

So what does that tell about the experts? Lol.

Finally, did anyone notice Mark's first post?
Sorry, libs, but FDR was no saint, along with Lincoln and Wilson he makes the list of the worst 3 presidents in US history. And BTW, Herbert Hoover is in that group as well.
So the worst three presidents were Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt AND Hoover?
Way to count to three, tiger. ... -- swinick

Again, having Markcarbon be wrong on one irrelevant point refutes his entire argument? Lol.

 

[LibertyEagle]

No, not saying for one minute that the government spending on arms is what did it, what it did is shake up the market and financial system, and put FDR onto other pursuits, leaving the economy alone.

I think there have been some good articles about this posted on here somewhere. Sorry, but I don't have time right now to dig 'em up.

 

[clb09]

The Gub'ment says:

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/newdeal.html

By 1939, the New Deal had run its course. In the short term, New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression. In the long run, New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm

FDR refused to run up the deficits that ending the depression required. Only when the federal government imposed rationing, recruited 6 million defense workers (including women and African Americans), drafted 6 million soldiers, and ran massive deficits to fight World War II did the Great Depression finally end.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/wwii

Congress created The Works Progress Administration (WPA) which offered work relief for thousands of people.

The end to the Great Depression came about in 1941 with America's entry into World War II.

We can all trust these GOVERNMENT WEBSITES, right?

RIGHT?!?