We are in the midst, or still in the beginning phases of a l-o-o-o-ng DEPRESSION quite similar to the iconic one of the 30s and 40s. That depression was a series of recessions and recoveries. The recoveries were hailed as the end of the depression. They weren't. That depression did not end until Ike eliminated a lot of business controls and we went back to something more like a free market economy. This one will probably include a major war at some point, perhaps soon.
FDR’s inclination was to use central planning to produce armaments in WW II, but he eventually decided that decentralized free market capitalism was the best approach. He recruited “Big Bill” Knudsen, a Danish immigrant who had risen through the ranks of the auto industry to become president of General Motors. Knudsen’s free rein on industry led to enormous innovations and productivity gains which were instrumental in ending the depression after the war and the huge boom throughout the 50s.
You have to wonder about that. The libs and the Keynesians [same thing] still believe that WWII got us out of the Depression.
It didn't. You're right, of course. It took FDR's death and the long-awaited election of a Republican Congress that ended the New Deal programs to start the economy up again.
But Obama doesn't believe in the free market. There'll be a lot of pressure on him from the Dems to "jump start" the economy as the next election draws near. I wouldn't put a war [Iran? Hope it's not China] past him.