On FDR, Shlaes Annotates Black

On FDR, Shlaes Annotates Black - Amity Shlaes on National Review Online

In The Forgotten Man (and/or elsewhere), I do argue that monetary and bank tightening hurt the economy in the later 1930s. I also note that enormous spending can in general raise GDP for a year or two. But the gist of my argument, made in numerous places, is that the key event in bringing an end to the so-called Depression within the Depression of the late 1930s was the New Dealers’ exhaustion. Roosevelt and others turned away from the home front and looked to the war abroad instead. Finding itself a partner rather than a target, business revived. Another way to put it: The big question is not how World War II ended the Depression; it is why the Depression lasted until the war. All other things being equal, the U.S. economy likes to recover. Eventually, it opted to.

Is there a chance, just through his lack of imagination, that the President will run out of programs so a new congress and Preisent in 2012 can undo what was done?

Not a chance!