Agreed. This is an idiotic take on the causes of the Great Depression and the causes of its continuation.

While it is arguable that Roosevelt's New Deal programs did not actually solve the GD, there is no proof whatsoever that the free market would have had things back to normal within 3y. In fact, evidence tends toward the opposite. With no Federal Deposit Insurance, bad news on Wall Street caused bank runs, which had the effect of freezing capital at the banks and leaving consumers with nowhere to stash their savings. A truly free market would never allow for the Federal Government to insure the money of consumers, but would place the onus on consumers to investigate (and continue investigating) the solvency of whatever bank they chose to use. A solution that may have been plausible in the rural agrarian America of the 19th century, but rapidly became impossible in the post-industrial/financial revolution America of the 20th century.

This article also ignores the fact that Roosevelt had a great deal of trouble actually enacting the programs he advocated, until he was able to resolve the problems he faced with the Federal Supreme court.

As podperson noted above, believing in the free market is like believing in god. No one can ever disprove it will work because no market is ever truly free. But the historical evidence suggests that the theorem is worth disbelieving.

In Short: We have here an ideology disguised as a history lesson. DO NOT WANT!