Thank you Jason for bringing up the issues of gender and race. Feminist historians and economists are now working together in an organization W.E.A.V.E (Women's Equality Adds Value to the Economy) to push for .... well, it's obvious isn't it? Interested readers should take a look at Mimi Abramovitz's recent essay Female Workers Can Jolt Economy; Look at Japan. Two related stories are

Three Steps to Women's Fair Share of the Recovery, and New Deal Slighted Women in Recovery Plans.

Eric, I apologize for the misunderestimated crack. It was not nice, nor was it called for. Sorry.

Snarky comments aside, I do wonder what part of capitalism delivers which benefits? Certainly by the time of The General Theory Keynes understood that believing in markets--as they are usually presented by economists--is not terribly different from believing in fire breathing dragons. He knew that the condition we call "free trade" allows rentiers to extract maximum possible payments, raising capital's share of income, depressing labors and setting the stage for another bout of crushing economic depression.

My point about FDR and the New Deal was not that he (or they) had a precise vision of how to "fix the depression," rather that, as one of our commentators remarks, he believed in improving the lives of people who must work to live. Absent a formula, experimentation was the only possible course. The New Deal had a center of gravity, the economic bill of rights was its clearest expression.