New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America

344 Pages·2008·12.18 MB·English

by  Burton W. Jr. Folsom

NEW
DEAL
DEAL?
HOW FDR'S ECONOMIC LEGACY
HAS DAMAGED AMERICA
Burton Folsom, Jr.
Introduction by ST E P H E N MOORE
A sharply critical new look at Franklin D. Roosevelt's
presidency reveals government policies that hindered
economic recovery from the Great Depression—and
I
are still hurting America today.
n tliis shocking and groundbreaking new book,
economic historian Burton W. Folsom exposes the
idyllic legend of Franklin D. Roosevelt as a myth
of epic proportions. With questionable moral character
and a vendetta against the business elite, Roosevelt
created New Deal programs marked by inconsistent
planning, wasteful spending, and opportunity for
political gain—ultimately elevating public opinion
of his administration but falling flat in achieving the
economic revitalization that America so desperately
needed from the Great Depression. Folsom takes a
critical, revisionist look at Roosevelt’s presidency, his
economic policies, and his personal life.
Elected in 1932 on a buoyant tide of promises to
balance the increasingly uncontrollable national budget
and reduce the catastrophic unemployment rate, the
charismatic thirty-second president not only neglected
to pursue those goals, he made dramatic changes
to federal programming that directly contradicted
his campaign promises. Price fixing, court packing,
regressive taxes, and patronism were all hidden inside
the alphabet soup of his popular New Deal, putting
a financial strain on the already suffering lower
classes and discouraging the upper classes from taking
business risks that potentially could have jostled
national cash flow from dormancy. Many government'
programs that are widely used today have their seeds
in the New Deal. Farm subsidies, minimum wage, and
welfare, among others, all stifle economic growth—
encouraging decreased productivity and exacerbating
unemployment.
(continued on back flap)
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ALSO BY BURT FOLSOM
Urban Capitalists
The Myth of the Robber Barons
The Industrial Revolution and Free Trade
Empire Builders
No More Free Markets or Free Beer
NEW
HOW FDR’S
ECONOMIC LEGACY
OR RAW
HAS DAMAGED AMERICA
W Folsom,
Burton Jr*
THRESHOLD
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Copyright © 2008 by Burton Folsom
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
Threshold Editions Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230
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First Threshold Editions hardcover edition November 2008
THRESHOLD EDITIONS and colophon are
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For information about special discounts for bulk purchases,
please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at
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Designed by Mary Austin Speaker
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 987654321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Folsom, Burton W.
New Deal or raw deal?: how FDR’s economic legacy has damaged America /
by Burton W. Folsom, Jr.
Includes bibliographical references and index,
p. cm.
1. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945. 2. United States_
Economic Policy—1933-1945. 3. New Deal, 1933-1939. 4. Depressions—
1929—United States. 5. United States—Politics and government—1933-1945.
6. United States—Economic conditions—1918-1945. I. Title.
E806.F64 2008
973.917—dc22 2008020381
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-9222-8
ISBN-10: 1-4165-9222-9
To
Ron Robinson
and
Larry Reed,
two friends indeed
't