Quote:
Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout@Aug 22 2004, 07:02 PM
granted I didn't read the .pdf (yet) I do have other things on the go (I'm killing time right now but won't have time to finish reading the section)
but what I'm saying is, I like being associated with the new deal, thinking outside the box, and putting mroe people to work, building towards the future when the economy is in a downturn to level out the business cycle. I think gov't interferance is a good thing.
Mind you, it was different back then (I've always said that) and they didn't understand macro-economics (as no one discovered it as of yet, or Keynes was just coming onto the scene I forget the exact years he came onto the scene).
So if you think I want to be like a very popular president who didn't understand how current economics works, then no. If you think I want to be like a popular president who believes in trying to turn around and level out the business cycle then yes.
I don't think those few pages will make me beileve that the building of the interstate highway systems, and public libraries, etc was a bad thing, but then again I keep an open mind when reading so you never know. I'll let you know what I think when I get the chance. It shall be bookmarked so I don't forget (if I do forget remind me every so often either here or in a PM as I DO want to read it)
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Here`s a short article (for those who can`t be bothered to read a book):
Robert Higgs - How FDR Made the Depression Worse
http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp...rder=authorlast
`In their understanding of the Depression, Roosevelt and his economic advisers had cause and effect reversed. They did not recognize that prices had fallen because of the Depression. They believed that the Depression prevailed because prices had fallen. The obvious remedy, then, was to raise prices, which they decided to do by creating artificial shortages. Hence arose a collection of crackpot policies designed to cure the Depression by cutting back on production. The scheme was so patently self-defeating that it's hard to believe anyone seriously believed it would work.
Industry was virtually nationalized under Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. Like most New Deal legislation, this resulted from a compromise of special interests: businessmen seeking higher prices and barriers to competition, labor unionists seeking governmental sponsorship and protection, social workers wanting to control working conditions and forbid child labor, and the proponents of massive spending on public works.`