FDR’s Folly

How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression

By: Jim Powell

Narrated by: William Hughes

Think FDR was a great president? Think again.

The Great Depression and the New Deal—for generations, the collective American consciousness has believed that the former ruined the country and the latter saved it. Endless praise has been heaped upon President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for masterfully reining in the Depression's destructive effects and propping up the country on his New Deal platform. In fact, FDR has achieved mythical status in American history and is considered to be, along with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents of all time. But would the Great Depression have been so catastrophic had the New Deal never been implemented?

In FDR's Folly, historian Jim Powell argues that it was in fact the New Deal itself, with its shortsighted programs, that deepened the Great Depression, swelled the federal government, and prevented the country from turning around quickly. You'll discover in alarming detail how FDR's federal programs hurt America more than helped it, with effects we still feel today, including how Social Security actually increased unemployment, how higher taxes undermined good businesses, how new labor laws threw people out of work, and much more.

This groundbreaking book pulls back the shroud of awe and the cloak of time enveloping FDR to prove convincingly how flawed his economic policies actually were, despite his good intentions and the astounding intellect of his circle of advisers. In today's turbulent domestic and global environment, eerily similar to that of the 1930s, it's more important than ever before to uncover and understand the truth of our history, lest we be doomed to repeat it. You'll never look at FDR in the same way again.

©2003 Jim Powell (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Very readable, factual, and insightful—and endorsed by two Nobel Prize–winning economists.”

(Thomas Sowell, nationally syndicated columnist)

“[Powell] has demonstrated that (a) not only did Roosevelt not end the Depression, but (b) by incompetent measures, he prolonged it.”

(Chicago Sun-Times)

“The next time economic cataclysm looms, leaders should read Jim Powell’s book.”

(National Review)

“A case that has rarely been presented to the general public by hagiographic historians.”

(American Spectator)

“There is a critical and often forgotten difference between disaster and tragedy. Disasters happen to us all, no matter what we do. Tragedies are brought upon ourselves by hubris. The Depression of the 1930s would have been a brief disaster if it hadn’t been for the national tragedy of the New Deal. Jim Powell has proven this.”

(P.J. O’Rourke, author of Parliament of Whores and Eat the Rich)

“The material laid out in this book desperately needs to be available to a much wider audience than the ranks of professional economists and economic historians, if policy confusion similar to the New Deal is to be avoided in the future.”

(James M. Buchanan, Nobel Laureate, George Mason University)

“Admirers of FDR credit his New Deal with restoring the American economy after the disastrous contraction of 1929–33. Truth to tell—as Powell demonstrates without a shadow of a doubt—the New Deal hampered recovery from the contraction, prolonged and added to unemployment, and set the stage for ever more intrusive and costly government. Powell’s analysis is thoroughly documented, relying on an impressive variety of popular and academic literature both contemporary and historical.”

(Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate, Hoover Institution)

Roosevelt wasn’t all he’s cracked up to be

Books like this expose the truth about FDR and his policies. WE took years longer to recover thanks to the idiotic policies enacted by him and his cronies.

A Must Listen During These Troubled Times

Just finished this book today and it is a must listen during these troubled economic times. The author provides an excellent review of the major New Deal legislation, policies, and players and the effect that these had on the nation's economy. Definitely worth listening to; I'm going to get the print version!

Excellent Rebuttal of Conventional Wisdom

This is an excellent survey of FDR's damaging actions, and how they ended up extending the Great Depression. It is very relevant to what is going on today. Some of FDR's actions seemed well intentioned, and some were deviously politically motivated. This book reviews taxes to price fixing to union policy to his supreme court packing schemes. An excellent analysis that counters the conventional liberal wisdom that FDR was a great president.

Excellent catalogue of Liberal idiocy

Would you consider the audio edition of FDR's Folly to be better than the print version?

I have not read the book, but the audio was very easy to listen to. The book is a full, generally factual catalogue of FDR's major mistakes with a good synopsis of who, what, when and why. The facts obliterate the false narrative that is still told today on how FDR saved us from the Depression. Jim Powell solidly supports allegations that FDR prolonged the Great Depression and made it much more severe. However, it's definitely one-sided and it doesn't claim to be otherwise. It doesn't give the whole context of FDR's actions and what the practical possibilities were of taking more Libertarian actions. If one only read this book on the Depression, one would think that FDR never did one thing right and would be utterly befuddled as to how FDR was elected FOUR times.Regardless, it is clear that FDR went way over the mark and was clueless on economics as all socialists are. I love Jim Powell's quote which sums up the underlying folly: “New Dealers always seemed to be comparing actual capitalism with ideal government. They judged capitalism by its apparent effects and government by its announced intentions”. Socialists do everything that they accuse capitalists of doing and much worse, but they will look you straight in the eye and based on their own self-righteous authority they will tell you it's okay because it's the government.

What about William Hughes’s performance did you like?

The voice just seems to fit the type of narrative and is never annoying or tiring.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have.

Any additional comments?

Now I have to buy the book so I can remember and quote these comprehensive facts when I hear someone say how FDR saved us, which is really annoying. However, I also need to verify and study the facts in the context in which they occurred. I seriously doubt FDR was as terrible as this book tends to imply.

A Great Hidden History

This should be mandatory reading in public schools in America. Knowledge of this book is worth a whole year of US history highschool classes as they are taught now.