New Deal

FDR and Compulsory Unionism Destroyed Jobs

by Jim Powell April 16, 2009

For decades, labor unions struggled for power, but until the 1930s they had made little headway. Unions were based on force and violence, which repelled a substantial number of employees as well as employers.  The aim had been to raise the wages of members above market levels, but this was only ...

FDR’s Anti-Business Crusade

by Jim Powell April 10, 2009

In 1938, after having spent many New Deal years signing laws that banned discounting and established cartels, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt denounced “the concentration of economic control” that many of his laws promoted. He went on the attack against big employers, even though, with unemployment still in double digits, ...

How the New Deal Soaked the Rich, Middle Class, and Poor

by Jim Powell March 31, 2009

The New Deal was paid for mainly by the middle class and the poor. This was because excise taxes were the biggest revenue generators for the federal government. They applied to beer, liquor, cigarettes, chewing gum and other cheap pleasures enjoyed disproportionately by the middle class and the poor. Until ...

How FDR Promoted Price-Gouging

by Jim Powell March 24, 2009

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Americans desperately needed bargains. But President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed laws that forced businesses to charge above-market prices for everything. He made discounting a crime! FDR did this even though antitrust laws provided penalties for private individuals who acted in ...

How FDR Promoted Racial Segregation

by Jim Powell March 17, 2009

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a reputation as a friend of black people, yet he signed laws that promoted racial segregation throughout the United States. The laws were supposed to promote “affordable housing.” Until the 1930s, buying a home required making a down payment equal to a quarter or a third of ...

FDR, the Great Court-Packer

by Jim Powell March 10, 2009

FDR won the 1936 presidential election with more than 27 million votes, compared to 16 million for his Republican opponent Alf Landon. FDR won the Electoral College vote by an even bigger margin — 523 to 8. He concluded that he could do anything, and he over-reached, triggering a harsh reaction ...

The Fallacies of Another New Deal, Part 1

by William L. Anderson March 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As the financial panics on Wall Street seem to be never-ending, a lot of commentators are openly asking whether the United States will slide into something akin to the Great Depression of nearly 80 years ago. Certainly, there is real fear in the air, and at this writing, the current ...

The New Deal and Roosevelt’s Seizure of Gold: A Legacy of Theft and Inflation, Part 2

by William L. Anderson September 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 The monetary system of the United States at the time of the Depression could not sustain inflation very long because the country was on a gold standard. If people sensed that the government was printing too many paper dollars, by law they could redeem those dollars from the government’s store of gold. Moreover, ...

The New Deal and Roosevelt’s Seizure of Gold: A Legacy of Theft and Inflation, Part 1

by William L. Anderson August 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 In a recent discussion on the economy with a faculty colleague, I reminded her of some of the absurdities of New Deal economic policies (many of which have been laid out in previous issues of Freedom Daily and elsewhere). She reminded me that Franklin D. Roosevelt is a “hero” to her and ...

The Progressive Era, Part 2: Progressives and the Economy

by William L. Anderson March 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 The last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade or so of the 20th century saw the rise of the large corporation in the United States. Those of us who are used to mega-multi-national firms cannot appreciate the sea change that occurred in the United States, as business enterprises, from ...

The Progressive Era, Part 1: The Myth and the Reality

by William L. Anderson February 1, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 One of the most enduring set of myths from U.S. history comes from the political and social developments in what is called the “Progressive Era,” a period lasting from the late 1800s to the end of World War I. (Of course, one could argue, convincingly, that the Progressive Era never has ended.) ...

The New Deal and the Courts, Part 4

by William L. Anderson September 1, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 No matter who is appointed to replace retiring members of the Supreme Court, the larger issues will remain unchanged, as they have been for nearly seven decades — the New Deal Supreme Court has become a permanent fixture in our country. Changes brought about by Franklin Roosevelt’s ...