| − | [[Image:Newdealcartoon.GIF|thumb|left|250px| Some conservatives, like this cartoonist, argued that the New Deal was all package and little content. Others charged it went much too far. ]]
| + | The Roosevelt administration was under assault during FDR's second term, which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production declined sharply, as did profits and employment. The Government's own statistics were showing that 23.8% of the Workforce was either unemployed, or underemployed. The term for the human suffering at the hands of [[economic planning|government planners]] was "wastage." According to the Brain Trusters own statistics, of "100 Per Cent Manpower," 23.8 were "Per Cent Wastage." <ref>''Population and the Pattern of Unemployment, 1930-1937'', Rupert B. Vance and Nadia Danilevski, The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1. (Jan., 1940), pp. 27-43.</ref> After four years of "government solutions," contemporaneous reports were stating "much of the unemployment in 1937 was due to a decrease in the number of jobs available." <ref>''Population and the Pattern of Unemployment, 1930-1937'', Vance and Danilevski.</ref> |
| − | The Roosevelt administration was under assault during FDR's second term, which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production declined sharply, as did profits and employment. The Government's own statistics were showing that 23.8% of the Workforce was either unemployed, or underemployed. The term for the human suffering at the hands of [[government planners]] was "wastage." According to the Brain Trusters own statistics, of "100 Per Cent Manpower," 23.8 were "Per Cent Wastage." <ref>''Population and the Pattern of Unemployment, 1930-1937'', Rupert B. Vance and Nadia Danilevski, The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1. (Jan., 1940), pp. 27-43.</ref> After four years of "government solutions," contemporaneous reports were stating "much of the unemployment in 1937 was due to a decrease in the number of jobs available." <ref>''Population and the Pattern of Unemployment, 1930-1937'', Vance and Danilevski.</ref> | |
| | Keynesian economists speculated that this was a result of a premature effort to curb government spending and balance the budget, while conservatives said it was caused by attacks on business and by the huge strikes caused by the organizing activities of the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]] and the [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL). | | Keynesian economists speculated that this was a result of a premature effort to curb government spending and balance the budget, while conservatives said it was caused by attacks on business and by the huge strikes caused by the organizing activities of the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]] and the [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL). |