The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression | Amity Shlaes

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression | Amity Shlaes | Big Government Intervention

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The Forgotten Man:...

	The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression Amity Shlaes HarperCollins, 2007 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 116 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Those that fail to learn from history....

Someone smart once said "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
Pass this book on to your children and your children's children.

Bill- Campbell CA

Big Government Intervention

What turned an economic recession into the Great Depression? Learn how the policies of two American presidents helped create and exacerbate the economic problems of the 1930's.

Great Depression revisited

This is a good look at the Great Depression from a different point of view. It was hard to put down. Really insightful as to Roosevelt's thinking.

Why did the Depression last so long?

Following the 1929 stock market crash the nation entered an economic recession. President Hoover implemented many policies in an attempt to turn things around, but succeeded only in driving more banks into insolvency and increasing unemployment. He also sought to have government replace business as the spending engine in the economy, and initiated numerous projects, such as Hoover Dam in Arizona. But when conditions hadn't improved by the next election he was overwhelmingly swept out of office by FDR and his New Deal.

Beginning in 1932 FDR had high ambitions for his first 100 days in office, and indeed was a whirlwind of activity. Unfortunately, there wasn't much logic or reason behind the activity, and the uncertainty of FDRs policies and actions further weakened the market. But he went even further by seeking to regulate business excessively and replace many private-run industries, such as utilities. Taxes were increased as high as 90% for wealthy individuals, and many new taxes were created such as the death tax, inheritance tax, undistributed profits, etc. Tax rules where changed retroactively and government prosecutors were kept busy persecuting those who'd already paid or had run afoul of the complex government rules.

Amity Shlaes has written a fascinating look at the Depression from a very convincing economic policy perspective. She skewers Hoover for turning a recession into a depression and FDR for having made it "Great." She points out why government policies failed to keep banks from failing, why the market lost confidence in government and how harsh tariff laws not only further weakened domestic industries but also exported the financial crisis abroad. She chronicles the various advisors to FDR, including many who were socialists, in the many government bureaucracies created to tax anyone with money and spend it on New Deal programs that amounted to little more than expensive propaganda. She also points out that many of FDR's early New Deal successes were actually programs that Hoover started. As the depression deepened and lingered until the beginning of WWII as many as 1 in 4 workers were either unemployed or in government work programs and people began to accept the depression as a fact of life.

Having studied economics for several years in college, I found the arguments to be logical and persuasive. I'm surprised, however, with the view this book paints of FDR especially, and the lasting reverence so many in this country had for him. Some very brief research showed that the merits of the New Deal are indeed controversial, so for me further research is necessary to either validate or refute the claims of this book. Nevertheless, Ms. Shlaes has made a very logical argument against the legacy of the New Deal.

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