Ohio Republican Admits FDR Did Not Cause The Depression

One of the talking points that the GOP has attempted to deploy in the battle over the stimulus package is, "Hey! Remember that New Deal dealie? Boy, howdy, wasn't that a massive failure!" Oooh, oooh! And what if the Nazis had gotten the bomb? Then we'd be in some serious doo-doo, tra-la-la!"

Anyway, freshman Representative Steve Austria heard that talking point and decided that it could be made way awesomer. And in an environment where his colleagues are playing fast and loose with the facts, who can blame him? Still, I think this revision took things a step too far with the editors of the Columbus Dispatch:

The day before, as Austria was explaining his opposition to the huge federal stimulus package backed by President Barack Obama, he told The Dispatch editorial board: "When Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression. ... He tried to borrow and spend, he tried to use the Keynesian approach, and our country ended up in a Great Depression. That's just history."

Austria said he gave that message via telephone to constituents at a recent town-hall meeting.

Uhm, yeah. That led the Dispatch to point out that "Roosevelt took office in March 1933. Many historians date the Depression from the stock-market crash later dubbed Black Tuesday, which happened in 1929."

And so, Austria had to get back on point:

"I did not mean to imply in any way that President Roosevelt was responsible for putting us into the Depression, but rather was trying to make the point that Roosevelt's attempt to use significant spending to get us out of the Depression did not have the desired effect. Roosevelt did not put us into the Depression, but rather his policies could not pull the nation out of the recession."

I guess now is as good a time as any to offer Austria the chance to familiarize himself with what the New Deal accomplished, via the handy graph Rachel Maddow deployed Monday night:

That's just history!

Comments

[sjones66]

"When I stated this as a fact, I didn't mean to imply it as a fact..." What? gee, Senator, Orwell would be so proud.

GOP= LIARS, THIEVES, SPIN-MASTERS, MINISTRY OF TRUTH

[labman57]

More revisionist history from the GOP.
Facts? We don't need no stinkin' facts!

The same clowns that are trying to revise economic history to portray Reagan and Bush as heroes while condemning FDR and Clinton as villains are only preaching to their gullible conservative base who would no doubt nod vigorously if told that FDR is responsible for the Nazi invasion of Eastern Europe and Clinton is to blame for the Iraq War.

[Joethepauper]

We listen to the GOP at our peril.......Over and over again.

[DAdvocate123]

Also, you cannot start the GDP at 1929, b/c you need to see what it was from 1900 to 1945, it did nothing.

[ErikW65]

Rachel's chart shows a peak in '29, then going higher once the New Deal kicked in, in '37!

[DAdvocate123]

Yeah, but it wasn't a peak. That's the point, it was a dip.

[melmoid]

I am mailing out my Grand Coulee Dam award to him today for "massive and concrete ignorance of U.S. History."

[DAdvocate123]

He Objectively made it worse. The Great Depression was caused by the Fed flooding cheap money into the system then cutting the supply by 1/3 in three years after the crash from the bubble created by the Fed.

"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 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 saw after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started...And an enormous debt to boot!" - Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

[AlaninElkGrove]

...like our current stimulus, FDR's spending wasn't large enough to cut unemployment hard enough. It was only the onset of WWII that forced the U.S. to spend FAR more monies and go even farther in debt to reach FULL EMPLOYMENT and rocket this nation out of the first GOP Depression...

[SCG]

With the Bush years we doubled our debt, while increasing unemployment.

Lesson: Republicans are thieves.

[Eris23Skidoo]

"Objectively" made it worse? Does that mean that he made it worse according to Ayn Rand?

[ChristianEcon.com]

"He Objectively made it worse."

Lol.....

[MJinCanada]

"We have never made good on our promises...I saw after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started...And an enormous debt to boot!"

Wow, just like the Bush administration.

Folsom never really puts that quote into full context, though, and cherry-picks his numbers.

[greatlardini]

It sounds like something straight from the mouth of Jethro Bodine. Steve Austria--Boy Jeenyus.

[Cinnamonape]

Here's another thing that is so obviously FDR's fault!

"2 orbiting satellites collide 500 miles up
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA says two communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit....The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was launched in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1933 and believed to be non-functionning. Each satellite weighs well over 1,000 pounds."

FDR's inaction obviously allowed the USSR to develop a space program in 1933, about three decades before their announced launch of the evil SPUTNIK! And, even worsew, it appears that it was kept secret...like all that Area 54 stuff...until now.

Thank GOD for all those Bible-believin', anti-Big-Bang folks Bush appointed to the PR Dept. at NASA!

[Joethepauper]

OMG! That is very bad news. Not that we have any money for NASA anymore, but a collision like that at twice the speed of sound causes hundreds of thousands of fragments. Those fragments, travelling at twice the speed of sound strike other orbiting satellites, creating hundreds of thousands of fragments.....On into infinity. It's called a "cascade", and it could cause "space junk" to rain down to earth for a long time. Only the people at NASA know the extent of the damage so far, but I'm sure they will be less than honest with us when they do give a report. This could, if widespread, affect cell phones, computer communications, and even military satellites. It could also trap us on the earth for the forseeable future. I wasn't going anywhere anyway, but still. This is bad!

[MJinCanada]

Very funny. The Russian satellite was launched in *1993* not 1933.

Nobody put anything into space before WWII.

[Scoppertop]

Ohio did sort of turn blue right before their very eyes in November, and Dennis Kucinich (D-10) is now the state's favorite congressman.

[SammyD]

wow Ohio has really gone downhill Kucinich?

[1dogmom]

I am sending off an e-mail to Rep. Austria's office: "Please stop embarrassing my state!"

[pompous]

Republicans are always looking for ways to improve education by revising history to their palate. Reagan after all was their demi-god and tax cuts their one and only commandment. Religion of course is their little black dress to be worn only on special occasions, i.e. election season or senate/house floor theatrics. Unfortunately, Reagan, tax cuts and religion did not give them foresight into this economic disaster. They have been fighting against FDR forever don't expect that will change despite the evidence that while not always a perfect plan FDR was successfull.

[Butquestioning]

You do realize that this is a myth about Reagan cutting taxes. Yes, he did once, and fairly substantially at that, but then raised them every year after that...He did create the largest deficit to that point and used that to justify the cutting of social programs, most started under FDR. Bush 41 continued that program of deficits and then raised taxes as the economy tanked. ...and we all know what "W" did to the deficit and also pushed for the end of other social programs like Social Security. Giving tax cuts to the wealthy creating deeper deficits to justify cutting programs for the working class is their game!

[elcojonu]

Reagan was unemployed during the Depression until he found a WPA gig in a Radio Station in Illinois.
He was a BIG FDR fan.

[SCG]

He kept stealing his quotes.... "a rendezvous with destiny" and copying Kennedy's visit to the Berlin Wall.

[Eris23Skidoo]

Reagan decreed that ketchup is a vegetable. Pretty obvious why he and his crew don't know jack about economics.

[Sassafras63]

"When Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression..."

"I did not mean to imply in any way that President Roosevelt was responsible for putting us into the Depression."

No sir, you did not imply...you stated it as a fact. I'm so tired of these politicians getting caught in telling their lies and then trying to behave as if we were the ones who misunderstood their meaning.

[Islanders6466]

I agree Sassa...It irritates me to no end, ESPECIALLY when, if being interviewed, the so called MSM interviewer, or, journalist, doesn't call 'em on it, or, correct them!!

[arizonahd]

Everyone knows it was acorn and Barney Franks that caused the great depression. What an idiot senator!

[poormanG]

i live in rep austria' s district. in fact, i live in his hometown... i am so embarrassed and ashamed today.
on behalf of all dem and indy voters in our district, i apologize to america.

[AlaninElkGrove]

You don't own those comments so no need to apologize, but do become involved in removing this buffoon from the halls of Congress. He doesn't belong...

[SirRealDeal]

I have heard several conservative commentators state (as if it were a fact) that most historians make the claim that the New Deal was a failure. As an acadmeic, the first thing I would ask is for them to cite the works (author, title, you know, the standard citataion format) so that I can see these if these claims are true.
Of course we know that they can not do this. This is their standard operating procedure - make an unsubstantiated statement as if it were fact. Then others quote this unsubstantiated statement as fact and, viola, a myth is born.

[Cinnamonape]

At least as far as the GDP shown in the chart, the New Deal programs appear to have resulted in a GDP that in 1937 had already surpassed the Republican high-point before the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Not only did they create a social safety net, but turned around productivity until he tried to balance the budget by cutting those programs. Growth stopped. FDR again returned to his New Deal programs and the economy recovered. THIS was even before America's direct involvement in the Second World War, although some of that productivity may have been a consequence of the Lend-Lease Act.

[MJinCanada]

They all cite the same article by a couple of economists who also blame "high wages" (i.e., enough to live on) for the slow recovery.