You're taking FDR's heroism as a matter of faith--as you've no doubt been taught. "Economic history" is a history of booms and busts. The busts normally were sh

You're taking FDR's heroism as a matter of faith--as you've no doubt been taught. "Economic history" is a history of booms and busts. The busts normally were short, whereas the Great Depression was extremely long--not really ending until after WWII (or, if you prefer, the beginning, though I'm tempted to discount military activities as anything 'economic'). I would suggest, in a basic way, that the policies associated with circumstances should take responsibility for those circumstances. It asserts that public spending cannot stimulate the economy because government spending will somehow crowd out private investment and push interest rates higher. Well, it is. Though Berkshire’s credit is pristine – we are one of only seven AAA corporations in the country – our cost of borrowing is now far higher than competitors with shaky balance sheets but government backing. At the moment, it is much better to be a financial cripple with a government guarantee than a Gibraltar without one. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2008ltr.pdf http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2008ltr.pdf If you think that can have a positive outcome, well...