Hal O'Brien

There is a meme that's re-emerged from the Republicans lately:

"The New Deal didn't get us out of the Great Depression -- WWII did."

Here's the problem, from a Republican point-of-view: This is still a Keynesian statement. It says the New Deal wasn't big enough, and it was only with the spending generated by WWII that government investment in the economy finally did get big enough.

Here's what you don't hear:

"The New Deal didn't get us out of the Great Depression -- GM, GE, and the rest of the private sector did."

Oops.