“Cutting taxes, spending and government to the bone would’ve lifted the economy in short order.”
Most people have no idea of what Federal spending was like when FDR took office. It was between 7% and 10% of GNP. Since the end of WWII federal spending as a percentage of GNP has ranged from 18% to 26%. Maybe higher now. It’s never been as low as it was prior to FDR and during his first two terms in office.
The private sector economy was caught in a trap due to a massive credit collapse in the banking system with one third of the US money supply simply evaporating. Cutting spending would have poured gasoline on that disaster. It’s not a panacea for every disease of the economy.
But apparently war is?
The last time we had true and actual across-the-board government cuts was under President Harding. It resolved the recession at the end of the Wilson regime in a year. This is a fact ignored by left-wing historians who have spontaneous multiple orgasms over massive spending, massive taxes and massive government. We were far better off with that level of government spending instead of spurring the era of ultratrillions in incurring debt.
Some state governments were able to ride out the Depression by doing precisely what I suggested (cutting taxes/spending/gov’t size). In many ways, had the Feds done little to nothing and allowed the private sector to reorganize and resolve its own problems, we’d have been well on the way to recovery long before FDR’s prolonging it and attempting to make millions of Americans wards of the state.