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“Despite the three stars, I did enjoy this book. FDR and Ronald Reagan were certainly reconstructive presidents in every sense of the word, which is the prism in which John Sloan analyzes both men. The book surveys their respective advisors, policies and political ideologies. FDR's touchstone was security for the people--from a decent home, productive work, and security against the vicissitudes of life.
Ron B wrote this review Saturday, June 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Sloan is obviously a leftist, albeit one that is trying his best to be fair to and against both presidents. The problem is he repeats a lot of nonsense about Reagan, such as questioning why he was against welfare policies when his family benefited from such FDR programs. Perhaps because they don't work? Even FDR was skeptical about putting people on the dole and creating a dependency. Also that Reagan's avid reading wasn't about ideas, but to gather quotes to support his existing views. What nonsense. Asking why Reagan never considers how Andrew Mellon's tax policies in the 1920s failed to prevent the Great Depression. Please. Milton Friedman has proven that the government caused the Great Depression, certainly not Mellon's tax cuts, which ushered in the prosperity of the Roaring 20s. Sloan claims Keynesian economics prevented another Great Depression in the post-World War II era. More nonsense. He never examines why Keynes' ideas failed to explain the stagflation of the 1970s. Sloan also blames the Savings and Loan crisis on deregulation. More hogwash. It's well known this crisis--like the housing crisis of 2008--was caused by government policies. In the case of the S&L crisis, government created moral hazard by increasing the amount of FDIC insurance on savings accounts. Sloan in silent on this. He also discusses how Reagan's policies created inequality, but doesn't explain how FDR's policies prolonged equal misery, especially among the 20% unemployed during the Great Depression. As if government can make people equal. If you want equality, visit a cemetery. Sloan mentions FDR's Warm Springs Foundation for victims of polio, but never mentions that it was segregated, though he's quick to point out Reagan's shortcomings in civil rights views--more nonsense.
You have to get to the end of the book before Sloan admits that FDR's policies failed to restore business confidence in the 1930s, something many economic scholars have learned. Given that FDR did not have a core ideology, he was willing to do anything. This type of capricious experimentation makes markets nervous. There are better books explaining the Great Depression (reviewed herein). Still, this is an interesting read of two men who, no doubt, changed history.”
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