Hiding in plain sight

Two UCLA economists claim to have figured out what my Grandmother, who lived through the depression, taught my father 50 years ago, and he taught me, and I've taught my kids; the New Deal didn't end the depression, World War II did. The New Deal exacerbated the Great Depression, and the "FDR saved the country from the depression" propaganda is just that - propaganda.

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.

"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump," said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA's Department of Economics. "We found that a relapse isn't likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies."

This is, of course, a "great mystery" of the same sort as the Kennedy assassination - it's a mystery only to those with an emotional interest in a storyline that isn't the real story...