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

Written by Burton W. Folsom Jr., Jr.

Narrated by Alan Sklar

In this shocking and groundbreaking new book, economic historian Burton Folsom, Jr., 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.

Roosevelt's imperious approach to the presidency changed American politics forever, and as he manipulated public opinion, American citizens became unwitting accomplices to the stilted economic growth of the 1930s. More than sixty years after FDR died in office, we still struggle with the damaging repercussions of his legacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 18, 2009
• ISBN: 9781400182640

Burton W. Folsom Jr., Jr.

Burton W. Folsom Jr. is the Charles Kline Professor of History and Management at Hillsdale College, and the author of New Deal or Raw Deal?, The Myth of the Robber Barons, and FDR Goes to War, written with his wife, Anita. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, American Spectator, Policy Review, and Human Events.

Reviews for New Deal or Raw Deal?

[musicformovies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The law of unintended consequences if one is charitable; a differing view of the various New Deal programs from the normal accolades one finds in most Secondary Educational and Collegiate history textbooks. The book would definitely be placed in a Cons List in judging the effects of the New Deal; it is recommended as a counterpoint view to the majority positive view of the New Deal; it is biased though in primarily promoting a negative view of the New Deal, and especially of President Roosevelt himself.It seems to me, that regardless of how one views the New Deal, it does mark a watershed moment where the Nation as a whole has been changed for better or worse.

[cranmergirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Here is another book which should be studied in high schools and universities. Unfortunately, a serious challenge to the myth of FDR's greatness would never be tolerated among today's liberal academic establishment. It is hard to imagine that FDR was the greatest president of the twentieth century, as many historians allege, in the face of overwhelming and credible evidence to the contrary as presented by this author. The traditional story we are taught in school is that FDR guided America out of The Great Depression. In truth, when presented with unemployment and other economic data from that era, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion but that FDR's New Deal policies actually delayed the Depression and indeed led to a depression within a depression by the end of the 1930's. By the spring of 1939, after over six years of New Deal policies, unemployment was still over 20%! Judging by FDR's actions, one senses that he was less interested in economic recovery than he was in expanding his own political power. He regularly funneled taxpayer money into patronage jobs in swing states to assure his own and his party's victories in the elections of 1934 and 1936. This was outright vote buying and was not even the least bit subtle at times. For example, in the four months before the 1936 election, FDR directed that 300,000 men be signed up for government jobs with the WPA (Works Progress Administration). In the month AFTER the election (after FDR secured victory), all 300,000 jobs were promptly terminated! Another unsavory tactic employed by FDR was to use the IRS against his political enemies. According to his son, Elliott, FDR "may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution." Consequently, many of his political enemies wound up audited and sometimes jailed. FDR was also downright hostile to business throughout the 30's, taxing them exorbitantly. In 1942, he signed an executive order taxing 100% of personal income over $25,000, saying it was necessary to win the war. So what finally did get the country out of the depression? According to the author, it was two main factors. One was WWII, which put many of the unemployed to work overseas, as soldiers or home, working in munitions factories. The second was FDR's death in 1945, which resulted in Truman becoming president. He was far less hostile to business and poll data from that time reflect a sharp increase in optimism about business. Less uncertainty about onerous taxes and regulation eventually led to expanded production and thus the U.S. economy was able to "absorb the returning soldiers and those who had previously worked to make war equipment." This well-researched and thought-provoking book seems doubly relevant during our current economic crisis. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history, economics and politics.