The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression

In one sentence, "FDR spitballed."

Loved this book. Plus Wilkie was from my hometown.

You think we have it bad now?

Very well written and poignant, given the current economic situation we are in. It may read like a scary novel when you see that the "solutions" being offered are the exact same ones that prolonged the recession and turned it into the Great Depression. Yikes!

The author mixes the right amount of personalities, historical checkpoints, and analysis in an examination of why Hoover and FDR continued a market correction into the Great Depression. Her thesis is that they forgot for every legislative or executive action, there is one actor who is responsible for making such action happen: the forgotten man -- those men (and women) who pay their taxes, go to work everyday, pay their taxes, and pay their taxes. Hoover's and FDR's actions ignored this "forgotten man" and, at best, postponed recovery until WWII or (as some believe) until the 1950s.

I'm not sure that it has lessons for us at this time -- Hoover's priority was to ensure the US commodity prices (i.e., American farmers' crops) stayed high and the US economy is now a service-based economy. And no Congress -- Democrat or Republican -- would ever cooperate with a US President like FDR's did with him. However, one of the problems with the Great Depression is that the US dollar became more and more valuable, causing the currency to deflate, and making getting credit nearly impossible, stifling any type of economic expansion. The governments of the world right now are seeking to stop that from happening. Who knows, after this economic episode is over, maybe I'll write a book called, "The Forgotten People."

so far so good

A highly readable account of the Great Depression, which correctly emphasizes how certain aspects of the New Deal interfered with recovery.

Goes to show you that we are repeating history. And not for the better.

JUST GOES TO SHOW HISTORY DOES REPEAT ITSELF. A LOT OF SIMILARITIES WITH TODAY'S ECONOMY AND OBAMA'S PATH DOWN A SIMILAR ROAD. A ROAD WE SHOULD AVOID AT ALL COST. THE BOOK SHOWED ME WHAT WASN'T TAUGHT IN SCHOOL ABOUT THE NEW DEAL AND HOW IT PROLONGED THE DEPRESSION AND STARTED THE ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS THAT HAVE DRAINED THIS NATION DRY TODAY.

Love this book--enough time as passed to hear the real story of the New Deal....