Myths about the Great Depression were once a mere annoyance. Now they have become a source for tyranny. The Bush-Obama response to the meltdown proves that one thing is certain: until we get the history of the 1930s right, liberty will be under threat of those trying to repeat the drama.
Thank goodness Robert Murphy has come along to straighten out the mess in a way that everyone can understand. In this hard-hitting book, we find the most accessible and most truth-telling book about the Great Depression and the New Deal that has ever been written.
Free-market economists have been working for decades to make the record of the calamity clear. This book may just be the magic bullet we’ve been looking for to kill off the myths before they kill us.
He puts together in one easy package the research of hundreds of scholars, showing that the it was not capitalism that failed in 1929 but the boom times created by Fed credit expansion. Murphy takes aim at the Chicago School economists and the Keynesians who continued to be in denial on this central point.
A particularly great feature here for Austrians dealing with monetarist myths: Murphy explains that the deflation in the 1930s didn’t have to be somehow devastating. It was not egregious by historical standards, and was fully compatible with economic growth. In fact, the Fed tried but failed to flood the economy with money in the 1930s. Here Murphy provides a very compelling explanation of fractional-reserve banking and its effect on the supply of money–indeed, his analysis here is more extensive and integrated than any yet in print, and all the better than it is in plain English.
He further shows that Hoover was not a free-market president. His policies were so statist that he might as well have been a Soviet agent. His biggest critic, who blasted him for his spending and centralization, was none other than FDR. But once FDR came to power, he enacted the longest string of cockamamie, prosperity-killing measures of any president in American history.
The economy still hadn’t recovered going into World War II, a war that didn’t help the economy or get us out of the Great Depression. It prolonged the government-made pain.
Murphy dissects the real history here with facts, analysis, clear prose, suggestions for further reading, fantastic quotations from all the main players, and even when he is discussing complicated data, he never leaves the reader behind.
Murphy concludes his book by recounting what led to the current crash. And wraps it all up with an excellent criticism of Bush-Obama and predicts that their policies will prolong problems.
This book appears as part of Regnery’s “Political Incorrect Guide” series but, in fact, this account is not biased in any particular direction. It is just good history, accurate history, truth-telling history that we have to know to navigate the treacherous waters of today’s economic and political environment.
The packaging here masks the accomplishment. This is a serious and amazing book, the one we’ve waited for. As Tom Woods says of this book, it is a full-blown Austrian account that gets right to what you have to know.
I’m so proud of what Tom and Robert, and many others have done, during this period. The Austrians have shown themselves to be seriously engaged at all levels in the public life of our times, blending scholarship and the ability to communicate.
I never thought I would live to see the day that Misesian thought achieved such a massive reach.
{ 13 comments }
I like how Bob kept with the politically incorrect theme, and depicted Roosevelt as standing on two feet, even though he was consigned to a wheelchair for most of the New Deal
Stranger still, blaming the economy problems on anything but the truth, the Chinese take-over of manufacturing in the world today, and the sell-out by Uber-rich American as well as other nationalities of stock-holders of American corporations and transfer of their funds to Chinese and Asian concerns. With so many high-flying folks riding on the poor American laborer’s back in the states, he can hardly survive at over $30.00 US an hour, while the Chinese peasant women in Shanghai factories get free room and board at the factories and cash left over to send home to the family farm, which, by the way, they still own! Unlike the poor Yankee worker, born into debt, slaves his life away only to face unfair foreclosures on over-priced real estate, planned obsolescence built right into the products he buys, poor schooling for his off-spring, local taxes that take from his dinner-plate and abuse by the rest of his own society for his sorry plight! Some American workers are the price of one American traffic ticket away from personal bankruptcy, while the Chinese peasant gets nearly free rail rides home on holidays, and still has cash to send children to superior to American schools! The “Depression” talk is a filthy propaganda smoke screen to distract from the truth, and the truth stinks, Yankee Doodle!
Hey Uncle B,
Read a book. Ignorance is no excuse for stupidity.
The blame the Chinese train has arrived. All aboard!
Any chance that this would be put up online?
And how does this mesh with the fight against fight against piracy? Hahaha
Um, Uncle B, looks like you are talking about signs and symptoms and not causes. Production and productivity with a high savings rate builds wealth. That is what China is doing. Since we spend more than we produce (both at the consumer and government level) we can only save a little, therefore we have to borrow. Since the Chinese and Asian countries are better producers and savers they have money to loan (as do the Europeans); and we are all too happy to borrow it.
Furthermore, we are religiously sticking to an inflationary monetary policy which steadily (and maybe soon to be rapidly) increases prices. This means those with a little money find it harder and harder to save as they fall behind, increasing pressure to borrow to survive (having about 3% less money per year to save). This at the same time as we transitioned to a useless service economy– thus the huge mess we are now in with massive debt and not enough productivity to produce our way out of the debt.
Check out shadowstats.com regarding inflation… (http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data). Government reporting of the cpi has been grossly distorted since 1990 or so. This shows that although wages rise about 2 – 5% a year (if lucky) the stuff you actually buy day-day has increased in price 2 – 14% per year! That makes it hard to save no matter how much you produce. It also causes investors to take higher risks to beat inflation!
Solution? Sound money, small constitutional government, reduced taxes, reduced spending and businesses set free to produce!
I like how Bob kept with the politically incorrect theme, and depicted Roosevelt as standing on two feet, even though he was consigned to a wheelchair for most of the New Deal
Thanks! I hoped you would like my artwork. I also hand stitched every book together. We pass the savings on to you!
I hate to be a stickler, but the cover art is no small issue. I know your account of the history is correct because I know my history … but what about the skeptic? Who’s gonna believe you if you can’t get the little things right? Someone like my republican father would take immediate contention with the cover art and discount the content of the book. I hope this can be rectified for liberty’s sake.
Howdy Uncle B!
Ebil Chinese take your yab? How sab.
Wait, who gave China all that money to explode them into their industrial revolution? Oh right that was us lending it to them.
Yeah, that cover art shows other serious inaccuracies besides. For instance Roosevelt never actually held a bunny up with the word “SPENDING” written on it. Please rectify this error immediately.
I’m not overly worried about the cover art myself. I find that people who can’t tell cartoons from reality are usually not reachable via logical or factual argument.
Ooh, I’m glad to see it’s being sold in paperback to begin with. I was planning on having to wait several months for it to be issued in paperback and then buy it, but now I can help boost Bob’s bestseller-list statistics this week by buying the cheap(er) paperback. (Maybe this was true of all PIG books…)
I kinda sorta somehow suspect Uncle B was being sarcastic… And I for one think it was pretty funny. Hold your horses.
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