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One study found that New Deal policies actually prolonged the depression by about seven years.<ref>Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, "[http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/421169 New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis]," ''Journal of Political Economy'', Vol. 112, No. 4 (August 2004), pp. 779-816; Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, "[http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis]," Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Research Department Staff Report XXX, February 2003. Cf. Meg Sullivan, "[http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate],  UCLA Newsroom, August 10, 2004</ref> In fact, Americans' personal consumption did not rebound to 1929 levels until 1941.<ref>[http://www.census.gov/statab/hist/02HS0034.xls No. HS--34. Personal Consumption Expenditures in Current and Real (1996) Dollars, 1929 to 2001], The 2009 Statistical Abstract: Historical Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau</ref> "[T]he consensus among historians today," writes Schivelbusch, is "that the United States completely emerged from the Depression only with its entry into World War II."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, p. 26</ref> (Some economists challenge this consensus, notably Robert Higgs.)<ref>Robert Higgs, "[http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=138 Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s]," ''The Journal of Economic History'', March 1, 1992</ref>

One study found that New Deal policies actually prolonged the depression by about seven years.<ref>Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, "[http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/421169 New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis]," ''Journal of Political Economy'', Vol. 112, No. 4 (August 2004), pp. 779-816; Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, "[http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis]," Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Research Department Staff Report XXX, February 2003. Cf. Meg Sullivan, "[http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate],  UCLA Newsroom, August 10, 2004</ref> In fact, Americans' personal consumption did not rebound to 1929 levels until 1941.<ref>[http://www.census.gov/statab/hist/02HS0034.xls No. HS--34. Personal Consumption Expenditures in Current and Real (1996) Dollars, 1929 to 2001], The 2009 Statistical Abstract: Historical Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau</ref> "[T]he consensus among historians today," writes Schivelbusch, is "that the United States completely emerged from the Depression only with its entry into World War II."<ref>Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' (Macmillan, 2006) ISBN 080507452X, p. 26</ref> (Some economists challenge this consensus, notably Robert Higgs.)<ref>Robert Higgs, "[http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=138 Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s]," ''The Journal of Economic History'', March 1, 1992</ref>

===Was Nazism a Capitalist Plot?===

===Was Nazism a capitalist plot?===

David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%), the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%) Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>

David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%), the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%) Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>