George Will was just on ABCSTEPH ranting about how the New Deal never worked and that the New Deal was the cause of some "slowdown" in 1937. I swear that if the Capital Gains Tax were 5%, there would be Republicans claiming that the Government would yield more income if it were dropped to zero. What the so-called Conservative Theorists would really like ala Uncle Miltie Friedman would be a country without Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Minimum Wage......I grew up in the 50's & 60's listening to Republicans talk about FDR as if he were a Communist. I like this article and the graph and the point concerning taxes.

And yet the economy was growing for most of FDR's first two terms, prior to the real ramp-up in military spending. In fact, economic growth was at its all-time high in 1936 (over 14 percent!)

I just read that it was the sale of war equipment that we manufactured to Europe *before* the U.S. entered the fray that pulled us out of the depression and that it was the increase in taxes in 1937-38 that stalled the recovery. I can't remember where I read it but will post a link if I find it. I don't see a link to the graph you picture above. I frequently miss them, though.

In 1936, President Roosevelt won re-election in the biggest election landslide in history ... If you believed the crackpot theories of right wingers that the New Deal did nothing to help, that result could not possibly have happened.

For everyone who ever wondered about the extreme hatred and vitriol directed towards the Clintons by the right wing noise machine, the answer is in the last line of the above paragraph.

Except it's not about taxes - it's about Healthcare and how Britain's Labor Party saw a lasting rise in party popularity after it established the National Health Service after World War II. Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic recognized the implications and took notice.

Almost 50 years later, the lessons learned bore fruit in the form of a memo from Bill Kristol, in what may have turned out to be the first and only time he got something right. He sent the memo about two weeks after Hillary Clinton had presented her Health Care Bill to Congress:

Leading conservative operative William Kristol privately circulates a strategy document to Republicans in Congress. Kristol writes that congressional Republicans should work to "kill" -- not amend -- the Clinton plan because it presents a real danger to the Republican future: Its passage will give the Democrats a lock on the crucial middle-class vote and revive the reputation of the party. Nearly a full year before Republicans will unite behind the "Contract With America," Kristol has provided the rationale and the steel for them to achieve their aims of winning control of Congress and becoming America's majority party. Killing health care will serve both ends. The timing of the memo dovetails with a growing private consensus among Republicans that all-out opposition to the Clinton plan is in their best political interest. [Emphasis mine.]

Fast forward 15 years to the 2008 elections where the Republicans have lost the White House, both Congressional chambers and their majorities in state governorships and assemblies. In fact, about the only place they are welcome is the federal prison system, which they themselves had designed with Democrats in mind, not each other.

But the real kicker comes after the Obama landslide and his campaign promises to make healthcare reform a priority, because it is the selection of Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services that has Republicans rethinking their stance towards physician assisted suicide.

Michael Cannon at the Cato Institute saw the writing on the hospital walls when he blogged, Blocking Obama’s Health Plan Is Key to the GOP’s Survival. (Link below)

If this was a video in Republican circles, it would be viral.

Happy to be here among people who get it. Tigger, another great contribution.