I'll leave this little gem here,

[nynco]

What do I think? I think FDR was the greatest president of the 20th century. Not for only what he did, but for what he didn't do or become. As a juxtaposition FDR came to power the same time as Hitler and Mussolini. All those leaders chose different paths to end their nations depressions. FDR chose a path that lead to the modern middle class we have today. Only when FDR's legacy began to be dismantled first under Reagan, later further under Bush 1 and 2 and Clinton did the nations middle class start to falter. It was FDRs banking reform that lead to the longest period of economic stability in this nations history. It was Clintoon and the other corrupt corporate whores on the deregulation bandwagon in congress dismantled that with the end of Glass Steagal. This allowed for the rise of the mega banks whose speculation insanity lead to our current mess. And Obama being the coward he is has not reformed this one bit. So be ready for part 2.

To say it was only war that lead to the end of the Great Depression is to also admit that Keynesian economics was was right all along. What is war but Keynesian economics on steroids. Its gov spending not private spending that fights wars. It was that gov employment to win the war that lead to the lowering of unemployment that much. What kept that unemployment lower was successive presidents who built of his legacies and reforms. The GI Bill which gave free college to millions of Americans (Gov spending) created a huge amount of Americans who had the brain power to send us into space and build this nation to todays point. Once we stopped investing in our fellow Americans and left it up to the market alone did that start to slide. Investing in infrastructure not just roads but in people pays off in long term sustainable growth.

The biggest problem this nation faces today has to do with unraveling over 200 years of trade policy. Once we started free trade with no tariffs, the American middle class began to slip. No nation can ever long term sustain itself without a manufacturing base. If we went to war today with China, I fear we might not able to produce enough stuff to win. All war at its core is economics. Its a measure of the amount of manpower and production capability. No amount of patriotism can overcome a lack of either.

We need to return to FDRs reforms. We need to start breaking up all the cartels and virtual monopolies. We need to regulate the banks WAY more. We need to have an economic plan for this nation that makes sure we still have manufacture at its core and not Wallstreet paper pushing and speculation. James Madison left us that lesson. We stopped listening to him and created NAFTA, GATT and China Free Trade. Which I think are all unconstitutional see Article I, Section 8, of the US Constitution.

As to the welfare state causing our current woes........ hardly. If there was no Social Security our nation would be way worse off today than without. How many people could not afford take risk and start a business if their parents had no Soc Sec check. Many.