"James McCown" wrote in message
om...
"Edwin Johnston" wrote in message
...
Notice the irony at the end of the following piece:

It's too soon to tell whether Reagan fits the bill
By JONATHAN TURLEY
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...utlook/2625617

At one time, Reagan supporters were content with their stated desire to
have
their man on the dime rather than Roosevelt, credited with such small
feats
as saving the nation from the Great Depression and the world from
fascism.
Roosevelt is long dead, however, and what has he done for us lately?

Turley is repeating the greatest myth of the 20th century. FDR took
office in 1933. In 1937 the stock market crashed again and by 1939 the
unemployment rate was at 20%.

In 1937, Roosevelt began to worry about the deficit and cut back on
spending. That plunged the economy into a recession. The unemployment rate
which had been as high as 24.9 % in 1933 and had dropped to 14.3%, began to
rise. It reached 19% in 1938. But had started to come down slightly to
17.2% by 1939. With a European War looming on the horizon, Roosevelt again
resorted to deficit spending, borrowing and spending a billion dollars to
rebuild the military. By 1940, the unemployment rate had dropped to the 10%
range.

It's no accident that we haven't seen unemployment rates that high since
then. We haven't had a depression since then, although we had a depression
or a financial crisis every 10-15 years or so before the Great Depression.
The closest we've come was during Reagan's 1st term when, in November 1982,
the unemployment rate hit 10.8% a year and a half after Reagan's tax cuts,
and stayed above 10% for almost a year, Before that the highest was 9% in
May 1975 under Ford. Is it an accident that everytime you get a Republican
president, the unemployment rate goes sky high. These are real people who
are out of work.

Reagan, of course, spent his way out the problem he created running the
highest deficits of any president up to that time. . Roosevelt did the
same with the problem Hoover created.


Roosevelt's new deal policies the great
depression. He didn't save anyone from it.

His change of policies may have exacerbated and prolonged the Great
Depression. Once he got back on course, things began getting much better.


--
Richard
A thought: Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather it's to
skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!!!"