Capitalism

[Kirkland Laing]

FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate / UCLA Newsroom

FDR's New Deal hurt millions of poor people : USD College Republicans

FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn't One to Follow - washingtonpost.com

I don't have an opinion on this really, but apparently not all historians believe the New Deal was the best or only solution.

Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no | McClatchy

Gateway Pundit: 200 Top Economists Say "Stimulus" Bill Won't Work

For Many Economists, Stimulus Falls Flat - CBS News

I didn't disagree with the stimulus bill in principle just the parts that seemed political but apparently not ALL economists thought it was the best idea. Lastly with a country in economic crisis what I did expect is an effort to dramatically curb our budget. I can agree to disagree on the parts of the stimulus package and omnibus that I philisophically oppose but my simple Soldier mind cannot fathom why we haven't slashed federal spending across the board.

FDR made several mistakes but overall the New Deal was a huge success. If you read the UCLA critique they're attacking FDR's incomes and pricing policies, something which was tried at the time but eventually ended by FDR as it wasn't working. You'cw got to remember at the time economics as a discipline was in its infancy, nothing like the depression had ever happened and every possible theory was tried, the ones that didn't work were discontinued. New Deal opponents claim that the government spending didn't end the depression and only WW2 finally did but WW2 was just a gigantic government spending programme, far bigger than the New Deal, so either way it was government spending which ended the depression that was caused by no government spending when the bubble burst in 1929, something that thankfully didn't happen this time.

Yes, lots of people disagree with the current stimulus. If you actually read those articles you'll see that most of the criticism of the stimulus comes from the left with liberal economists claiming it isn't big enough, gives too much in tax cuts etc. The right claim it gives too little in tax cuts. History and all the evidence shows us that tax cuts are a far inferior method of generating economic growth than government spending. So like I said in the previous post no reputable people really disagree that the government should spend money, they just disagree over how the money should be spent.