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Conservatives love to talk about how bad of a president FDR was when it is a fact that the country loved him in the 1930s to the point they elected him 4 times.
It was in hindsight and studying history, not the current times at that time that said FDR prolonged the depression.
He kept getting re-elected because he kept spending government money on social programs for the people. The government kept the people working and food in their bellies.
I can only speak for myself, but I do not doubt that Keynesian economics can be effective. I do however not see it as being effective in the long term nor as conducive to the accumulation of general wealth in the long term. Seems like little more than a jump start to me, and it must be followed by a boom in order to compensate for whatever was spent to make it work.
I admit I haven't done all the research on it but this is my initial impression from what I've gathered. Feel free to correct me.
A jump start, hmmm. Reminds me of what Keynes said, "in the long-run, we're all dead."
Sorry for the crude table but anyone should be able to see that growth during the War years was double-digits (ex. 1944) and negative when the war ended.
Yet didn't go back down to 5% until the 40s. Doesn't prove anything.
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I'm not saying he necessarily prolonged it by the way. I'm just saying that it's a debatable issue with hundreds of factors.
GDP had recovered well before that, as had many other economic factors. Unemployment might have reached single digits as early as 1938 or 1939, except for FDR's pledge to control deficits in 1937 (sounds familiar). Spending cuts caused employment to go back up again because the private sector employment had not recovered (also sounds familiar, and perhaps more familiar if more cuts go through).
Too true! My father-in-law, who would be 102 if still alive, was in the CCC. He developed a life-long love of camping from being in the CCC. He was one of the hardest workers I have ever known, too.
What a crock! My kids' middle school, still standing, was built by the WPA.
And where did THEY get their crystal ball? You know, there's a saying in health care, you don't kill the patient to cure the disease. This is how I feel about this "prolonging the Depression" nonsense. You don't kill the country to cure the economy. If the Depression went on a little longer b/c of some of Roosevelt's social policies (and 7 years is a real stretch b/c the Depression was about 12 years from the stock market crash to Pearl Harbor, and Roosevelt was president for about 9 of those years), his policies also helped a lot of people along the way.
Yeah, those WPA people built some real things and some of their work didn't last long. My parents had a real outside toilet that they built that they really thought was great. It had a concrete repository which extended up to a concrete stool and concrete floor. Now my dad, who was an outstanding supporter of Roosevelt and a Democrat for life decided he would catch the high school haloweeners who promised to upset his toilet took a seat in it just knowing they couldn't separate that floor from the repository. Yeah, they upset it on the door and he had to wait for we kids to find enough men to come and raise it back up so he could get out. He never bragged about his WPA constructed toilet again although setting it up on the repository worked a number of years.
I forgot to say that my dad would have been 103 if he had lived beyond 97.
GDP had recovered well before that, as had many other economic factors. Unemployment might have reached single digits as early as 1938 or 1939, except for FDR's pledge to control deficits in 1937 (sounds familiar). Spending cuts caused employment to go back up again because the private sector employment had not recovered (also sounds familiar, and perhaps more familiar if more cuts go through).
I think you meant "unemployment" not "employment."
Yeah, those WPA people built some real things and some of their work didn't last long. My parents had a real outside toilet that they built that they really thought was great. It had a concrete repository which extended up to a concrete stool and concrete floor.
So, the WPA was no good because your parent's toilet was built wrong? The Triborough Bridge was one of those projects and it's still used today, 80 yrs. later.
They also built:
Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York
Camp David, Maryland
Dealey Plaza, Texas
LaGuardia Airport, New York
even though FDR was elected 4 times, his unemployment rate kept going up and up until WWII started. After WWII started, he led on the premise of what bush did. let me fight the war and get it over with on my watch.
If WWII would have never happened, then I believe that FDR would have never seen a 3rd term.
also, FDR was a facist thug that wanted no more than a dictatorship, as he was the only potus to get elected to office 4 times, rather than the tradional 2.
If George Washington could turn down being offered king and only served as potus for 2 terms, then FDR should have stepped aside for someone else after his 2nd term was over.
I have got to rep. that. Great post. I don't know much about
the economic end of it, but, I do know that FDR's
death promped congress to enact the two term
limit. And they did it in a big hurry, so, FDR must
have scared the hell out of them.
What did we get for our stimulus...John Murtha airport revamp, lots of hike/bike trails, repaving of many roads, handouts to corporations that used offshored workers, handouts to companies that went bankrupt.
There wasn't the greed, corruption and collusion that we have today. Tax money got funneled alright but not where it was supposed to go. Pork and payback were the goals of the stimulus money.
What did we get for our stimulus...John Murtha airport revamp, lots of hike/bike trails, repaving of many roads, handouts to corporations that used offshored workers, handouts to companies that went bankrupt.
There wasn't the greed, corruption and collusion that we have today. Tax money got funneled alright but not where it was supposed to go. Pork and payback were the goals of the stimulus money.
The difference was that the 2009/2010 stimulus was geared differently. Remember, the GOP members of the Senate demanded 40% of the stimulus be converted into tax-cuts. Another chunk was aid to the states to avoid layoffs.
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