I’m not an economist but I am a bit of a history buff. FDR and the “New Deal” didn’t end the Great Depression, WWII didn’t end the Great Depression. What ended it was that at the end of the war we were basically the only major country with factories that weren’t bombed flat.
Anywhere in the world if you wanted to buy manufactured goods they almost had to be purchased from American factories.
We got spoiled, wages and profits increased and as the world was slowly catching up we acted as if the situation would last forever. The world caught up. To keep our standard of living we started living on credit. The bills have finally come due I don’t see a pretty picture from here.
I can see the American standard of living collasping as we find ourselves taxed to death just to maintain infrastucture that was put in place when we could afford it.
Americans are a hell of a lot better off now than we were 50 years ago.