So what you're saying is that under FDR's policies unemployment was cut nearly in half in 8 years.
No, what I'm saying is that FDR's policies made the Depression worse than it would have otherwise been. What you are engaging in here is a flawed piece of logic known as "post hoc ergo propter hoc" ("after this, therefore caused by this"). Saying that unemployment fell because of FDR's policies is like saying that it rained because you washed your car. The laws of economics are just as immutable as the laws of physics and all the regulation, stimulus packages, TARP programs and bailouts in the world won't change that.
Seems to me you and I had this discussion a couple of years ago, Skymutt and I found little to disagree with you on back then. President Hoover may have been a Republican, but he was certainly no Conservative. Because of the Davis-Bacon Act and interventionist policies like the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, I'll grant you that Hoover was chiefly responsible for causing the Depression in the first place (a surprise to you, I'm sure, since you seem to think I'm such a rabidly partisan defender of anyone with an "R" beside his name), but FDR's administration was just a continuation of the same failed policies, much like what we're seeing now with GWB's stimulus and Obama's bailouts.
And I know this will be shocking to you, but some folks even actually have political axes to grind against FDR! Bottom line, you've given me no reason why I should treat this particular study as the gospel truth.
And of course, we all know what a bastion of Conservative thought UCLA is...don't we? ;-)
Regards,
Scott Perry
to post a reply:
login - or -
register