User:Jers/blog/2011/11/27/What Fixed the Great Depression Really
<call ShowBlogPostPage>
Our Greatest Generation presid … <blockquote>Our Greatest Generation president, FDR, drove unemployment down from 25% to 15% [!] during the ‘30s using this recipe [government spending on infrastructure, etc.]. Some make the point that WW2 ended the Great Depression…That’s true, but only because the war required the government to raise money to build the infrastructure for war...</blockquote> (Frank Hyman, p 1A Raleigh News & Observer, December 2011)This is a common view of the cause and cure of the Great Depression, but it needs a little unpacking. First, the reduction in unemployment from 25% to 15% during FDR’s tenure still leaves it at ludicrously high levels. If FDR prescribed a cure, it was only slightly better than the disease. WW2 did the job, though.han the disease. WW2 did the job, though. +