Recently my wife posted a letter from our congressman on Facebook. Comments flew based on this post. (As they always do around politics) The last, which I want to respond to in greater detail than I can on Facebook, is as follows:

From 1929-1932 the Republican president did nothing while the market corrected itself into oblivion.  Hoovervilles sprung up across America.  In 1933 FDR came into office.  The new deal followed.

My response:

Let me take your points one at a time. 1)"...The Republican president did nothing..." Obviously you're a Democrat or we wouldn't be having this discussion. That being said, Hoover took many steps in policy to try to repair the economy, but I agree he did not act legislatively. As I'm sure you know, many economists believe that no effort by the government could have corrected the multi-year depression. FDR himself blamed the depression on a bubble-like economy. Sound familiar? 2)“The New Deal followed.” While personally I think there is a time and a place for programs like the New Deal, there is no evidence that the New Deal was causal in repairing the economy. Most likely the economy would have fixed itself in about the same time. Again, I could be wrong. Taking a more Neoliberal vs. Keynesian (Yes, I love Ayn Rand too) viewpoint, I think that we need to let the market work these things out. While I understand the thought process behind increasing the amount of circulating money, doing so in a fiscally irresponsible way (creating unmanageable debt) is going to only delay and increase the size and duration of the downturn. Additionally, this is not the type of money management I want my children to consider acceptable.