[Marxism] New Deal

[abu hartal <abuhartal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The formatting is going to be terrible, sorry. 
The Rauchway piece is hardly convincing, from first skim. 1. He points to the 
inflow of gold into the US due to panic in Europe;this in turn allowed for an 
expansion monetary policy. He seems tothink FDR's dollar policy is responsible 
for the inflow. No, panicin Europe is what drove the export of gold. How is FDR 
responsiblefor that?2. He tells us that investment was high in FDR's first two 
terms, butinvestment includes the accumulation of inventories, and that was 
high due to fearsof inflation. Inventory accumulation was bound to exhaust 
itself, and it did.3. The economy did not go into a free fall in 1937 due to 
contractionary fiscal policy.The reduction in veterans' benefits is often 
pointed to, but the case can't be made.4. Private investment did collapse in 
1937 at least in  part due to business fearsthat FDR was accommodating new 
demands for labor rights. He was ultimatelysaved by the panic inflow of gold 
from Europe and the war orders from Europe,before he took over the economy and 
broke the capitalist rules due to war.Then death proved itself the greatest of 
Keynesians.One of the foremost theoretical tasks for Marxists is the criticism 
of themythology of the effectiveness of FDR's New Deal and Japan's 
recentexperiment in Keynesianism. Paul Krugman, Doug Henwood and others are 
selling snake oil. 

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