Are you teaching a high-schooler 20th century American History or, even better, economics? Check out Amity Shlaes’ The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. As I’ve learned more about economics I wondered why this depression became Great. Why on earth did it last so long? Ms. Shlaes details the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations fascination with Soviet collectivism and their desire to implement many of the principles here in the United States. Abandoning historical and successful free market principles, Roosevelt’s centralization goals were so ambitious they made even John Maynard Keynes nervous.
A particularly fascinating portion of the book deals with the case of the Schecter Poultry Corp. v. United States. The Schecters were an immigrant family who ran a poultry business in Brooklyn and were prosecuted for lowering the price of their chickens to compete in the local market place. Found guilty in the lower court they were sentence to jail time and severe fines. The case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court where the Schecters were victorious and in the process ended FDR’s aggressive Federal price and wage fixing policies. It was a classic underdog victory for simple businessmen who knew their market over Ivy League lawyers and economists.
The Forgotten Man takes a look at the conventional wisdom and finds it very much incorrect. Her heroes of the period were not FDR and the New Dealers but Coolidge and Andrew Mellon. It’s a great resource for informed discussion.
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