FDR, the overrated.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is often heralded as one of the best Presidents in the history of the United States. The progressive media and propaganda peddled to school children have perpetuated that myth. The progressive want you to believe that the New Deal and the Great Society programs helped the country but that is not entirely accurate, just popular. Over the course of 6 years FDR created 34 new government agencies, bureaucracies and acts. All of that spending to create jobs resulted in an average unemployment of 18% over those 6 years. "Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle." FDR's quote sounds very similar to "the admin's" quote about paying taxes as being American. The Bill of Rights were rights bestowed on us by our Creator, so when FDR came up with the 2nd Bill of Rights did he think he was our Creator? FDR issued executive order #6102 in 1933 which ordered every American to turn in their gold, in any form within 3 days or face $10,000 fine and/or 10 years in jail. How very American of the great FDR. Biographers have even claimed that FDR was the dumbest (economically speaking) Presidents of all time. He had no economic experience and his policies showed that. All of the New Deal spending did nothing to decrease unemployment or bring the country out of the depression. In fact, Henry Morgenthau (FDR's Treasury Secretary), acknowledged that FDR's spending didn't create any new jobs. Testifying in front of the House Ways and Means committee in 1939 he said, "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and now if I am wrong...somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises...I say after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started...and enormous debt to boot." Trying to help farmers raise prices, FDR had to cut supply and the stockpile of existing crops; so in the middle of a depression with people starving, he ordered the slaughter of 6 million pigs and 10 million acres of cotton and the public sector jobs created by New Deal displaced private sector jobs. The National Industrial Recovery Act was designed to keep wages high but actually created legally sanctioned cartels that established wages, hours and minimum prices. FDR's New Deal hurt business which in turn delays recovery, mounting taxes on labor costs contributed to high unemployment. Business was afraid to invest because of the uncertainty on what the government would do next. Another "boost" from FDR was the National Labor Relations Act, or the Wagner Act which excludes people to inflate wages, distortion of the labor market, work rules that discourage efficiency and innovation. New Deal supporters say that the massive spending projects provided jobs and economic stimulus, but the taxes to pay for those projects were taken from the private sector and that inhibits private sector job creation. These projects were also extremely wasteful, since there was no profit loss incentive. Another area where you can how useless the distribution of "stimulus" money. The South, who were the poorest in the country, received the least assistance from New Deal projects. Western states received large amounts of WPA money. Researchers have determined that political factors could account for 80% of New Deal spending. Western states where FDR's margin of victory was slim received the lion's share of money while the democratic south that gave FDR a 67% of the vote received little money, even though they could use it the most. WPA workers were intimidated through the threat of job loss to change political parties and donate to reelection campaigns. The FDR regime closed down radio stations that spoke out against him, launched FBI investigations into conservative organizations and smeared members of the America First Committee as Nazis and traitors.

The Supreme Court became an opponent of FDR, rightfully so, they struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. So FDR made designs to pack the court with new activist judges that saw things his way.

Don't agree with what you are reading above, then check it out for yourself.
Gary Dean Best - Pride, Prejudice and Politics: Roosevelt vs Recovery.
Richard Epstein - A Common Law for Labor Relations: A Critique of the New Deal Labor Legislation.
Lewis S Feuer - American Travlers to the Soviet Union 1917-32: The Formation of a Component of New Deal Ideology.
John T Flynn - The Roosevelt Myth.
Robert Higgs - Regime Uncertainty: Why the Great Depression Lasted So Long and Why Prosperity Resumed after the War.
Jim Powell - FDR's Folly.
Robert Shogun - Hard Bargain: How FDR Twisted Churchill's Arm, Evaded the Law and Changed the Role of the American Presidency.

I know there are some out there, that won't even read this, won't check the sources or any of the information, just attack me or change the topic. Most likely, they won't even respond because they can't deny the facts presented above and that would kill the "great" image FDR has. The progressive/liberal media has watered down history to show only what promotes their agenda and are killing the American Spirit in our coming generations.