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Showing reviews 16-20 of 306
 A valid and well argued critique of the New Deal November 29, 2009
William J. Shepherd (Crofton, MD USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is not a right wing rant but a valid and well argued critique of The New Deal and the New Dealers, especially Franklin Roosevelt who now enjoyes a mythic status as the nation's savior. Shlaes relates a series of mini biographies of significant pro and anti New Dealers to tell a story that is especially relevant in the Age of Obama. Yes, there was a new deal, but was it a good deal for the American people? The original forgotten man was the working tax payer, not the poor and unemployed, and Schlaes is to be commended for reminding us all of the true forgotten man who has paid, and is still paying, for all the nation's social programs.
Who is the Forgotten Man? September 6, 2007
Bill H (Olympia, WA)
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book. It really drives home the misery caused by those who "knew better", and their ability to use modern propaganda and a desperate people to further their agenda. Today we refer to these as "failed policies", in the 1930s these were "necessary restructuring" of life and a vast expanse of government.
Each chapter outlines the participants in the fiasco of 1930s economic and political policies and focuses on their contributions and their obtuse neglect of the consequences of such.
Again, an excellent book with excellent footnotes.
Magnificent Insights Into the Great Depression September 9, 2007
John David Green (Scottsdale, AZ USA)
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
The well-written narrative of the Great Depression identifies several dubious policies of both Hoover and (especially) FDR that inadvertently deepened and prolonged this massive recession. Ms. Shlaes illuminates the communist sympathies of FDR advisers, the political villification of the American business community and the wealthy, the punative taxes, the maddening unpredictability of Roosevelt, and FDR and Hoover's lack of a coherent monetary policy. Shlaes makes the powerful argument that these and similar considerations made the great depression much worse and much longer than it ever needed to be. Highly recommended.
Different Perspective on FDR. July 26, 2007
Paul Kuhn (Glen Ellyn, il USA)
16 out of 22 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book. It had a very different perspective on the depression and the economic policies of FDR. The standard theory is that Hoover did nothing and along came Roosevelt who saved the country and got the economy going. The problem with that is that the Depression did not really end until 1939. The GNP Did not return to 1929 levels until then. So why did the depression last so long. While Ms. Shlaes does not directly answer that question she does make several points that does at least partially explain the duration of the depression.
One of her points is that Roosevelt very much personified and politicized the business leaders of his day. While this may have been good politics it did not inspire confidence among them. You have to remember that the business leaders then where not like they are today they where not media or politically savvy. So Roosevelt frankly scarred them. FDR did not seem to appreciate that fact. At one point in his administration concerned about the lack of business activity he had the FBI investigate a possible conspiracy among business leaders to not invest. The FBI reported back no conspiracy.
One other area she chides Roosevelt on was his tinkering , trying new things to get the economy moving never staying on one course long enough. I disagree with Ms. Shlaes on the reason for this I believe part of it was that policy makers did not have enough information to make informed decisions so they did not always know the effects of their actions. Monetary theory was in it's infancy as was economics in general. If you read Keynes " General Theory" Your struck by how approachable non-mathematical it is. Also one should consider Roosevelt's background. He was very much old money. A scion of landed gentry. Wall Street, banks, middleman, speculators where either his enemy or he did not understand the role they played.
One forgotten piece of history that Ms. Shlaes brings up is the Schechter brothers. They where the two Brooklyn Chicken wholesalers who where almost thrown in Jail for the crime of under-charging their customers!!!. By fighting this they where able to invalidate the NRA. This may seem irrelevant today but it was part of a plan to highly regulate the economy. If the NRA had survived our economy today would resemble Frances or worse the failed Soviet Union. The other repercussion would be that Roosevelt would make one of the few political missteps of his presidency. And attempt to change the supreme court. That coupled with the recession of 37-38 would politically weaken Roosevelt.
She also does a good job of resurrecting Wendell Wilkie.
Try not to view this as a right-wing book, it presents valid, under-reported criticisms of the handling of the Great Depression January 9, 2008
M. Strong (Milwaukee, WI USA)
18 out of 25 found this review helpful
I'm very surprised to see how many people are giving this book a single star with the criticism that it is a right-wing bashing of FDR. The reality of the situation is that we have learned quite a bit about how to manage economic downturns since Hoover and FDR had the distinct displeasure of dealing with the whopper we encountered in the 1930s. Much of what we've learned comes from studying the actions taken to combat the Great Depression and their impact. To refuse to hear a critical account of that handling dooms us to repeat mistakes rather than learn from them.
Shlaes is pretty even-handed when it comes to handing out blame for government mismanagement of the Great Depression. You won't catch her congratulating the government for much in the 30s, but she sure doesn't limit herself to Roosevelt. Hoover (a Republican, remember) takes the first beating in this book, and it's a biggie. Hoover gets taken to task for the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, pulling liquidity from the economy and trying to "engineer" a solution to the problem. All three made matters far worse.
Then, yes, it's Roosevelt's turn. He takes a real beating, but the policies he implemented never did pull the country out of the Depression and in the decades that have passed we've learned decisively that the policies of John Maynard Keynes that Roosevelt implemented don't work. They fail to recognize that all government spending necessarily pulls private spending (almost always more efficient) down by an equal or greater amount. Further, FDR continuously changed the rules of business, discouraging investment by raising uncertainty, then taxed companies and wealthy individuals so heavily as to eliminate almost all incentive to invest in the future.
Both Hoover and Roosevelt made very real, very serious mistakes in handling the Great Depression, and Shlaes does a wonderful job of explaining them clearly. It would be a shame if we couldn't learn from the mistakes of seven decades ago because we're still too tied up in the politics of the situation. The rule of thumb is that we are usually capable of an objective look back after three decades, we should hear Shlaes out about the 1930s now that we're in 2008.
Great book for anyone who wants to learn about the leadership failures (from both sides of the aisle) of the Great Depression so we can handle things better going forward.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 306
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