FAIL

World War Two and the devastation of virtually every other major industrial base on the planet created the necessary foundation for that expansion. The primary role of the Government–especially during the period from the late 40s through the mid-60s–was to divert billions of dollars from the economy into the military-industrial complex that might otherwise have been available for other kinds of growth. At the time, given the Red Scare, the arms race, and the burgeoning consumer economy, it seemed like we could afford it.

FDR’s so-called progressive economics did not, for the most part, survive his own presidency.

My parents remember FDR but not in glowing terms.

Also, they have always been Democrats.

Then as now, when Republicans speak of “the economy” they are speaking of Wall Street and corporations.

But FDR’s programs did revive many families.

Even today, one of the pleasures of working a Democratic GOTV phone bank on Election Day is encountering elderly Roosevelt Democrats who remember how things got better for them under FDR.

FDR’s economics did not revive the economy. Check the facts, for the first 7-8 years things languished pretty badly. However, the industrial production in WWII and the emerging post war extinction of the British Empire and the sick status of Europe and Japan lead the US to a dominant position in the world.

You may have a beef with the events of today but FDR’s economy is simply not the answer.

In 1933 the unemployment rate was 25%. So FDR’s policies were aimed at putting people to work by any means necessary.

Today, the problem is not unemployment (so far) but the decline in real wages, and the shedding of tax burden by the top brackets.

So Mike W is correct – we do not need policies to create jobs; we need policies to create wage growth, and more progressive taxes.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/29/zakaria.sarah.palin/