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RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
11/14/2008, 11:18 PM
This review is from: FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (Paperback)
A common historical misconception is that FDR's New Deal rescued the United States from the Great Depression. However, CATO Historian Jim Powell argues that the New Deal exacerbated and elongated the Great Depression. With impressive attention to detail, Powell examines the long-term results of the New Deal and persuasively argues that they crippled the U.S. economy.

In this detailed book, you will learn about the numerous programs the FDR administration brought about, including the following:

* Programs that inundated private businesses with unprecedented waves of regulations, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the National Recovery Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

* Programs that redistributed wealth from producers to consumers, such as the Federal Emergency Relief Act and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

* Programs that nationalized industries, centrally planned infrastructure or created makework projects to increase employment such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Powell argues that these programs typically led to poorly planned infrastructure that was more expensive than what could have been acquired in a free market.

The economic results of FDR's programs were devastating. For example, consider the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The price and production controls of the AAA led to perverse practices such as millions of tons of domestic oat and corn being burned while the U.S. simultaneously imported oat and corn, millions of peaches being left to rot and millions of "excess" pigs being needlessly slaughtered while lard was being imported from overseas. The extent of economic regulation under the FDR Administration reached such absurd levels, there was even a government board organized solely to control the production and pricing of milk!

This book will also detail the oppressive controls on income and wages under the FDR administration. Under FDR, scores of private sector jobs were eliminated through minimum wage laws, personal income taxes hit 91% for certain brackets and it was a stated part of FDR's platform that nobody should have an annual income in excess of $25,000.

Powell reveals how all of FDR's programs are based upon the fatally flawed premises of Keynesian economics, including the following:
* That government spending is always good for the economy, even if it is engaging in pointless ventures such as building pyramids.
* War is good for the economy.
* Gold (as a standard of currency) is a "barbarous relic" that prevents economic growth.
* A capitalist economy will inevitably slow to a halt without periodic bolsters from centralized planning.
* Consumption (i.e., the destruction of wealth) not production, drives the economy. Thus, government should redistribute wealth from those who would invest it to those who would spend it.

From reading this book, you will also learn that many of FDR's earliest programs, such as the AAA and the National Recovery Act, were originally ruled as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfortunately FDR stayed in office long enough to appoint 7 of the 9 sitting supreme court justices, which eventually opened the floodgates for New Deal reforms. Thus, is the unforeseen danger of having a President serve more than two terms.

Powell has done a fantastic job with this work. I am not surprised that FDR's Folly has been enthusiastically recommended by famed free market economists such as Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in free market capitalism and learning the real history of the Great Depression.

Curly Bill
11/14/2008, 11:20 PM
Libs on the attack in 3...2...1...

tommieharris91
11/14/2008, 11:27 PM
This is a book review. It has nothing to do with how Obama may turn into FDR (other than "redistribution of wealth" comment). Bush has been putting us on the path to socialism anyway. :confused:

salth2o
11/15/2008, 12:51 AM
Libs on the attack in 3...2...1...

Heh! :D

King Crimson
11/15/2008, 01:03 AM
an expert from the CATO Institute....there's unbiased proof right there. in addition, to the conservative "intellectuals" on the board who never cite their sources.

because what they post is both pure fact and immediate revelation.

Frozen Sooner
11/15/2008, 01:14 AM
****, I hope so.

soonerscuba
11/15/2008, 02:37 AM
****, I hope so.That was my first thought, I would also like to hear them critique the 3rd and 4th terms, you know, the Nazi & Jap asskicking part.

Gandalf_The_Grey
11/15/2008, 02:39 AM
That was because he had a Republican Congress ;)

Vaevictis
11/15/2008, 02:44 AM
If Obama's 1/4th the President FDR was, he'll be the best President we've had in 20 years.

If he's 3/5 the President FDR was, he'll be the best President we've had since HST.

That is all.

King Crimson
11/15/2008, 02:49 AM
Hunter S. Thompson?

even before the gonzo stuff, was a great political writer.

yeah, i'm just funnin', Vaevictus.

Vaevictis
11/15/2008, 02:51 AM
:D

Jerk
11/15/2008, 08:39 AM
Atlas needs to shrug.

StoopTroup
11/15/2008, 09:09 AM
Well...there you have it.

RLClone has uncovered the inner secrets to Obama.

I feel so much better now that it's out on the table.

I'm going to go wait by my radio until Shawn comes on and tells us what to do next.

Veritas
11/15/2008, 09:29 AM
Holy ****ing ****. Obama hasn't even served a day in office yet. Yeah, he could be the second coming of FDR, or the second coming of HST. Or he could be the second coming of DDA. Yeah, that's right, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, the best metal guitarist to ever walk the earth. Maybe Obama is like this insanely awesome guitar player who's going to fill the void left since Abbott's murder on December 8th, 2004. That will be awesome.

King Crimson
11/15/2008, 09:32 AM
Dimebag has been dead since 2000? that ain't right.

wiki and King C says it's 2004.

edit: Veritas, I'm also not going to make fun of you here for your love of Nuno Bettencourt. two strikes.

Veritas
11/15/2008, 09:36 AM
Dimebag has been dead since 2000? that ain't right.

wiki and King C says it's 2004.

edit: I'm also not going to make fun of you here for your love of Nuno Bettencourt.
Lol...multiple edits on a post can be problematic. 2000 was a typo, trust me. Some people remember where they were on 9/11, I remember where I was 12/8/2004.

And I do love Nuno Bettencourt. I even have an N2 Washburn to prove it. :)

King Crimson
11/15/2008, 09:39 AM
those Nebraska girls are easy, aren't they? A little Nuno and you are a poet...

Jerk
11/15/2008, 09:57 AM
qshXOioiT7g

Veritas
11/15/2008, 10:04 AM
those 94 - 96 HS girls are easy, aren't they? A little Nuno and you are a poet...
Fixed.

"Attention ladies, I can play 'More Than Words.' Now who wants to get nekkid?"

royalfan5
11/15/2008, 10:25 AM
My Nebraska Elementary School choir performed More than Words for our spring program in the early to mid 90's. I thought should be mentioned here.

King Crimson
11/15/2008, 10:40 AM
Fixed.

"Attention ladies, I can play 'More Than Words.' Now who wants to get nekkid?"

haha, Mister Sarcasm/Overstatement. you have or have not bragged about it before on this board?