Photo: Naval Airpower

[ellisonz]

82. Dodge.

The argument you made was and I quote "the outbreak of WW2 was the saving grace for the New Deal(s)" - you have in no way established that the New Deal needed saving grace, and in fact, it's a very strong argument to suggest the United States could not have mobilized as fast as it did without it. You also make the claim above that "we didn't have a massive transportation infrastructure at the time we mobilized" and as we can see from the statistics I have offered we had just made major investment in our transportation infrastructure. You also claim above that "conscription does amazing things to unemployment rates," but the New Deal did substantially bring down unemployment, and it only rose when government spending was cutback. The problem was not-enough stimulus, but when you think about the return that all that war spending brought in terms of boosting the economy, it is certainly debatable what the rate of return was given the immense cost.

Don't like people calling out the vagaries of your argument, don't make them. Clearly, the New Deal was a resounding success and the United States could not have mobilized as successfully as it did without its investment in transportation and social services. FDR turned the country around with his policies and with these substantial investments the United States was able to quickly defeat three major military powers in less than 5 years. You have not demonstrated one bit that in peace time we cannot cut the military way back and somehow jeopardize our ability to achieve our national security goals.

Don't look now, but our bloated military machine has been in Afghanistan for 10 years and still can't get the job done. We have made a very poor investment in these pointless wars and now you would sooner put the cost on the civilian population than dial back the military-industrial complex. It is no secret that we spend as much rest of the world combined on defense! Unless you're planning on picking a war with the PRC, we don't need anywhere near the current size or expenditure.



We should be spending on butter, but you want to spend it on guns...The sooner we cut back the better. It seems to you that keeping people in military service is more important than rebuilding our transportation infrastructure, investing in our social programs, and protecting our environment. That's - let's cut back to the 2000 level adjusted for inflation.