Yeah. I think the comparison initially was in the imagery of war, displaced people, Congress, clueless government and how by stripping the original Republican voiceover it could be a visual reflection of what's happening now.

The original film is at archive.org/details/TruthAbo1940

It's almost like opposite things were happening though. Then FDR's successful social programs had brought the USA out of hard times. Real danger in Europe was looming (this film was a year before Pearl Harbor). Now we're in the middle of a neverending war with hard times looming, if not already here, at home. It will be interesting to see which becomes the bigger political issues in the upcoming election.

I had learned in my economic classes at university that the new deal programs did not bring the country out of recession, but that the build up of manufactoring before our entry in to the war (supplying Britain with war material and preparing our forces for the inevitable entry) was the key. Also, in my experience the economy has always played the biggest role in elections, sometimes passively when it is viewed as good like in parts of the 90's. I would guess that the democrat candidate will try and join the two together and try to make the case that the war is a factor in the economic slump.

Sadly that is probably the case... though the New Deal helped and gave us a lot of great art... or at least great artists that bloomed after the war and a lot of infrastructure to ramp up war production once we got in.

I think the logic of the moment is that in the next world war, we will be buying weapons manufactured by the Chinese to fight the Chinese... Everyone gets paid and Population control too! Never ending war... so Orwell was off by a few years... he probably got it right.

Ed, I appreciate your comments as they help to illustrate the truth about social programs instituted from government. As in the case of the New Deal, the programs were not a success, they were an utter failure (I could go on for days discussing the my reasoning behind this). But what your economics professors told you only scratched the surface of the reasons for the recovery of the US economy after the Depression.

The New Deal and all the extra legislative frills surrounding that legislation were constantly changing the rules of engagement for business owners. In a free market the most important thing is a clearly defined set of rules(laws) that don't change. And obviously having as few as possible. This allows the Entrepreneurs to focus on creating value in the economy without spending all their creative juices on just complying with today's current set of rules, that will probably change tomorrow. This leads to new job creation, and greater value in the marketplace.

From the time of the Crash in 1929 to our preparation to enter WWII, the government was constantly changing, adding to, removing, and augmenting the laws that governed how business owners were to conduct themselves in the "economy". It was the preparation for WWII that caused the federal government to concentrate on something other than the economy for a while. This allowed business owners to know what was happening in the market from day to day, so that they could start investing in the economy again, without fear of losing their investment because of changes in the law, or the whim of government.

So what your professors told you was true, but it doesn't help you understand where the root of the problem was. If The government had not stuck it's fingers in the economy at all (which according to the constitution they don't have the jurisdiction to do anyway) the Great Depression may have only been remembered as the brief depression, or the tough recession, or even the Productive Awakening.

It is important to understand this important concept, so that we don't allow it to happen in some future (and possibly not so distant) time.

FYI if you would like to know more about this I came across a DVD seminar on the subject about 2 years ago, that helped refine my understanding of the great depression and the situation surrounding it. You can find it at: greatdepressiondvd.com/

I think it had more to do with free flowing billions from the government to fight the war. A state that supporters of "free market" capitalism have left us totally addicted to.