FDR Failed? A Dose of Reality
I want to strongly recommend an article by Charles McMillon of the Campaign for America's Future, entitled The FDR Failed Myth.
A small sample:
"This belief, though widely held, cannot stand up to even the most basic economic analysis. Yet the mainstream corporate media, which abound with anti-government ideology, seek to reinforce this myth. Just this past Sunday, The Washington Post featured on Page One of its Outlook section an article by Amity Shlaes headlined “FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn’t One to Follow.” Underscoring Shlaes’s made-up claims, the Post ran the continuation of her piece under the title: “FDR’s Plan Failed to Spark Real Growth.”
and
a chart from the article, which says it all:
This malicious lie about FDR is sort of the reverse side of the coin of the hagiography of the worthless crook Reagan. It is necessary for the right to turn history upside down, since, if nothing else, history proves every shred of their so-called ideology to be self serving lies.
In fact, the only period that GDP went down under Roosevelt was after he briefly fell prey to conservative blandishments and decided to balance the budget.
As it is part and parcel of Republican attacks on Obama to deny the blatantly obvious fact that IT WORKED BEFORE, it's just as well to have some real information on this historical issue.
Note for extra credit: Never heard of Amity Shlaes? She is sort of the economic equivalent of Laurie Mylroie, the darling of the right who spent the last two decades blaming every hostile incident in the world on Saddam Hussein. Amity's schtick is to blame everything on FDR. On the well known conservative principle that the greater the lie, the nobler the scholarship, she today enjoys the highest regard in right wing circles.
A small sample:
"This belief, though widely held, cannot stand up to even the most basic economic analysis. Yet the mainstream corporate media, which abound with anti-government ideology, seek to reinforce this myth. Just this past Sunday, The Washington Post featured on Page One of its Outlook section an article by Amity Shlaes headlined “FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn’t One to Follow.” Underscoring Shlaes’s made-up claims, the Post ran the continuation of her piece under the title: “FDR’s Plan Failed to Spark Real Growth.”
and
a chart from the article, which says it all:This malicious lie about FDR is sort of the reverse side of the coin of the hagiography of the worthless crook Reagan. It is necessary for the right to turn history upside down, since, if nothing else, history proves every shred of their so-called ideology to be self serving lies.
In fact, the only period that GDP went down under Roosevelt was after he briefly fell prey to conservative blandishments and decided to balance the budget.
As it is part and parcel of Republican attacks on Obama to deny the blatantly obvious fact that IT WORKED BEFORE, it's just as well to have some real information on this historical issue.
Note for extra credit: Never heard of Amity Shlaes? She is sort of the economic equivalent of Laurie Mylroie, the darling of the right who spent the last two decades blaming every hostile incident in the world on Saddam Hussein. Amity's schtick is to blame everything on FDR. On the well known conservative principle that the greater the lie, the nobler the scholarship, she today enjoys the highest regard in right wing circles.
Comments