Who thinks we need another program like President Franklin D. Roosevelt's (New Deal) to fix our economy?

Question

I was thinking that instead of giving those stimulus checks to individuals that we should have done another New Deal Program. We should given that money to diff rent local governments to re-construct our failing infrastructure, with the requirement to only use local contractors.

What do others think about this ?

Answer 1

I think we definitely need a New Deal programs. Suits me.

Answer 2

Do you like being unemployed?  Do you like seeing vast amounts of wealth wasted on stupid make work programs?  Do you want to see further encroachment into our declining sphere of liberties?  Are you crazy?

FDR was the worst president in U.S. history.  The new deal was more like the raw deal.  It misdirected the resources of the U.S. into all sorts of nonproductive programs.

Answer 3

Sounds good to me.  It worked then, is there any reason why it would NOT work now?  The only problem we would have to deal with is the corruption at the local level.

Answer 4

I would agree to this, but most won't.

It is what John Maynard Keynes, economist during the great depression, wished to do.  Roosevelt was hesitant about it at first and went about it carefully.

Keynes basically said:

When people can't spend as much money, companies do not produce as much.  As a result, people got laid off and couldn't spend any money.  The cycle repeats.

What is needed is "coordination" to move us out of the vicious cycle.  Government spends money, puts the money in the people's pockets, they spend more, production increases, employment rises.

Unfortunately I don't think it would work these days.  Our government gives such projects to closed bidders.  It would not be done efficiently due to the use of no-bid contracts as well.  

Also, our debt is pretty bad right now.  In actuality, we never had a balance budget since BEFORE Reagan.  Since then, presidents have borrowed from SS to give the illusion of a balanced budget.  Debt service payments (interest only) have become an increasing burden.  

What would also work is to cut out this trickle down economics c**p.  Give the tax cuts to the middle class.  What do middle income people do with money?  They spend it!  Creating more production... creating more jobs.

___

Marvin:  Hoover was the worst president.  He is the one that made the Great Depression "great".  Grow up.

Also, a war will not affect this economy like it did in WWII.  We are no longer the industrial nation we were back then.  We were the production hub for weapons and military accessories... now not so much.

Answer 5

It wouldnt be necessarily bad to build a better infrastructure, but it isnt exactly his programs that got us out of the economic rut, but rather World War II...