My sincere desire (and I think Nathan will agree) is that we go beyond both sweeping celebrations and sweeping condemnations of the New Deal to better understand both its successes and its failures.
https://twitter.com/NathanTankus/status/1389247496896061443
Too much “mythologizing” infects both extreme views. Take one simple myth both sides subscribe to: that the New Deal was inspired by Keynes’ ideas. One side celebrates it for this foresight; another confirms it as it does Keynesianism writ large.
In fact, Keynes had little influence on the New Deal; while he praised some aspects of it, he was highly critical of others as impeding recovery. FWIW, my own view is that, had his advice actually been heeded, we’d have seen a much more rapid and complete post-1933 recovery.
Needless to say, there’s no place for such a perspective among the New Deal myth makers!
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