Mr. Sirota specialty is his combination of profound ignorance and righteous indignation at those vast numbers of people who know things he does not.

The viewpoint that "massive government intervention actually prolonged the Great Depression" is widely held even if the ignoramati of the world put their fingers in their ears and yell "Can't hear you!" whenever the issue is discussed by their betters. Economist and historian Murray Rothbard's book America's Great Depression makes the point rather forcefully. At #19 on Amazon's Free Enterprise category for bestsellers, it's hardly an obscure tome, but of course in Mr. Sirota's world anything he hasn't read, or started to read but doesn't like, doesn't exist.

As for the statement that "One would be very hard-pressed to find a serious professional historian who believes that the New Deal prolonged the Depression," it is most convenient for the Sirota's of the world to simply define as not serious any historian (or anyone else) who disagrees with their vacuous drivel. Here are few historians who have literally written volumes on the harm and prolonged Depression caused by the New Deal: David T. Beito of the University of Alabama, Jonathan Bean of Southern Illinois University, Brad Birzer of Hillsdale College, Brad Thompson of Clemson College, Jeffrey Hummel at San Jose State University, Larry Schweikart of the University of Dayton , Michael Allen of the University of Washington at Tacoma, Ralph Raico of Buffalo State College, Burton Folsom of Hillsdale College, David Mayer of Capital State University in Columbus, John Moser of Ashland University in Ohio, and Paul Moreno of Hillsdale.

Sirota's historical ignorance is bad enough, but his economic ignorance is far greater. As Rothbard noted, "It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance."

Sirota's naive few of the economy as a simple machine that responds instantly and as expected to government meddling is certainly widely shared, but that does not make it correct. Politicians and other feeble-minded crooks understand well enough that there is a substantial lag between action and response, particularly in an economy as large and complex as America's. But in Sirota's little world, FDR made the horrible mistake of balancing the budget 1937-38 and so there was an immediate recession. FDR returned to massive deficit spending in 1939 and the Depression was over. Amazing!

It's not that Sirota's ideas are uniquely bad. Many people have similarly puerile, insipid notions in their heads. But Sirota expresses his hollow thoughts with such heavy-handed earnestness, it makes one laugh. He seems completely unaware that he is a simpleton, but that is his charm. One can laugh at him without hurting his feelings.