FDR lengthened the Great Depression

Some works have taken a revisionist approach to point out that FDR's economic policy errors hurt our economy. Books like The Forgotten Man, Rethinking the Great Depression, and FDR Folly are three works that make the case that FDR made errors that lengthened the Great Depression. FDR's Folly has the following liner note endorsement:

"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."
–Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate, Hoover Institution

Via Parapundit, we learn that UCLA economists calculate FDR lengthened the depression by 7 years:

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."

In an article in the August issue of the Journal of Political Economy, Ohanian and Cole blame specific anti-competition and pro-labor measures that Roosevelt promoted and signed into law June 16, 1933.

"President Roosevelt believed that excessive competition was responsible for the Depression by reducing prices and wages, and by extension reducing employment and demand for goods and services," said Cole, also a UCLA professor of economics. "So he came up with a recovery package that would be unimaginable today, allowing businesses in every industry to collude without the threat of antitrust prosecution and workers to demand salaries about 25 percent above where they ought to have been, given market forces. The economy was poised for a beautiful recovery, but that recovery was stalled by these misguided policies."

This is stunning but unsurprising work. If you study the economic history of many nations, you can see how socialism has created poverty and hurt economic growth in many situations. But the Great Depression remains a misunderstood era, due to that 'popular' history written by liberals; they wrote the history without asking the question of whether the "New Deal" policies actually worked (or assuming they did work). But the verdict now is clear: The New Deal was an economic failure for the United States, even if it was a political success.

If you want to know why I am worried - we have people comparing BHO to FDR and other liberal Presidents who were equally bad for our economy. Be very afraid.