New Deal on Television Watch

A few weeks ago I was writing to defend the New Deal, to show that it did bring the US out of the Depression, and that in any case, spending for WWII (which is often cited as the actual end of the Depression) was also Keynesian. Keynesian stimulus (getting money into the hands of the lower classes, often while hiring them to do useful things by the government, the employer of last resort), is thus doubly proven to be effective. I was pleased to see this week that there was some support for that thesis on the airwaves (where the New Deal is almost never defended). The first was by Rachel Maddow, the smartest television host on today. At about the 3 minute mark in this video, Rachel shows that the New Deal really did work to arrest and turn around the Depression. She doesn’t make the connection that spending on WWII was Keynesian, though. That connection is made here by Jonathan Alter, who also shows the rare ability to just come right out and state that a Republican is talking nonsense. It’s good to see this narrative finally making an appearance. Is it too much to hope that Democrats will now start to tell it?