But there's a cottage industry on the right, and in the right-Libertarian economics world where conservatives get their economic ideas from, that under Hoover there was a "recession" which hovered around for 4 years or so 'til FDR took office in March, 1933 -- then FDR exacerbated the "recession" into full-blown Depression. FDR's attempts to solve the problem aggravated it. He should have sat on his hands reading the Greek classics in the Oval Office instead of doing "bold experimentation" or regulating anything.
Right-Libs like Amity Shlaes provide the econo-ammunition, and Hannity, et. al, regurgitate it more broadly but parlayed into their own social conservative framework. The revisionist history on FDR has been at fever pitch lately.
They know that if you repeat something enough -- "FDR bad for country, untouched markets would have been good" -- it becomes "true."
-B.
farmelantj at juno.com wrote:
"Isn't one reason why the US economy worsened again from 1936-1938 because FDR tried to return to a more orthodox fiscal policy, involving attempts to balance the budget? Wasn't FDR's problem, that he wasn't Keynesian enough at the time?"