During the Great Depression, both presidents resisted the natural decline in prices of goods and labour. Hoover was a Republican, FDR a Democrat - this was not a partisan issue.

The theory behind this approach was that maintaining wage rates meant the persistence of purchasing power, preventing a decline in demand. It would work if people were guaranteed to keep their jobs. However, preventing businesses that cannot afford to pay their employees their previous wages from lowering them forces them to fire the overpriced workers. The same is true for artificially charging the same amount for goods; customers do not purchase them. When a government prevents adaptation to the new environmental climate, it causes further unemployment and more significant economic devastation.