[quote=SK in CV]
No, his packing of the supreme court, while ballsy, wasn’t the mistake I was referring to. It was his (non-Keynesian) reduction in government spending which lead to a halt of the advances of the previous 7 years. A recession within the depresssion. As soon as government spending resumed, so did economic growth. An identical similar concern exists now.[/quote]
Following is from Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Treasury Secretary in 1939:
[U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.]: “No, gentlemen, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong, as far as I am concerned, somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…
But why not let’s come to grips? And as I say, all I am interested in is to really see this country prosperous and this form of Government continue, because after eight years if we can’t make a success somebody else is going to claim the right to make it and he’s got the right to make the trial. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started.
Mr. Doughton: And an enormous debt to boot!
HMJr.: And an enormous debt to boot! We are just sitting here and fiddling and I am just wearing myself out and getting sick. Because why? I can’t see any daylight. I want it for my people, for my children, and your children. I want to see some daylight and I don’t see it…”
—Transcript of private meeting at the Treasury Department, May 9, 1939, F.D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
As Shlaes’ writes convincingly in her book, WWII had a far greater effect as far as lifting the US out of the Great Depression then did the economic policies of FDR.
