Which Presidential candidate will produce a 21st century version of Roosevelt's new deal?

Answer 1

Sadly, there are no candidates, presently running, bold enough to propose a 21st Century version of the New Deal. If there were, I doubt he or she would be elected in 2008. The good news is that what is left of the New Deal, like Social Security and Medicaid, combined with the alleviation of the Clinton administration has tempered the effects of the Reagan/Bush years. Things today aren't quite as drastic as they were in the Great Depression brought on by the Hoover/Coolidge/Taft years. Just about any of the Democratic candidates can start to mend the damage of Bush/Cheney administration and take us into a progressive 21st Century.

Answer 2

Of the candidates running for the Dem and the Republican nomination, my answer is NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Roosevelt concocted the New Deal as a means of getting the people of this country back to work and imrpoving our infrastructure so that foreign investments would provide the country an influx of badly needed cash. Unortunately, the plan didn't work quite as well as they hoped, so the Second New Deal tried to address some of the problems the first couldn't take care of. While not as successful as it's predecesssor, the plan (combined with an economy-building war) did get the country back on track and out of the Great Depression. Truman, Roosevelt's Vice President in his final term, continued the ideals of Roosevelt (a Democtrat) and the party line by instigating the Fair Deal, that had moderate success, but was not as well accepted by congress by that point.

No candidate today can garner the type of bipartisan support in congress (like FDR) to enact such a broad, sweeping initiative, even though it is desperately what the country needs. Condsider that bridge in Minnesota that collapsed. It was built during the Kennedy administrattion, and the media reports that the conditions of thousands of other bridges and roads throughout the country are degrading at an alarming rate. If our country invests in our infrastructure again (like they did back then), we could increase jobs, stimulate the economy, and provide safer roads and bridges made with better materials and processes which would handle current overcrowding on the highways while addressing future demands on those structures.

Here's some food for thought: Every single war president prior to Bush Sr. has managed to make war profitable for our country. Ask yourself what changed between Vietnam and Desert Storm that we no longer make a profit from our wars... I bet you find out some eye-opening stuff.

Answer 3

I'm not sure. Probably Edwards, which is why he is the last candidate I would vote for.

I can't believe that some of you people actually want a new 'New Deal'.

Was one DECADE LONG depression not enough for you?

Edit: Dogsngoa.... So now you have fixed SS.
What do you propose we do about Medicare/caid, considering its shortfall is somewhere in the neighborhood of $30-50 trillion, much larger than the SS shortfall.

Zardoz- Assuming you are correct (which you aren't) why did it take 10 years for the New Deal to get the economy going again? Oh wait it didn't. WW2 production was needed to lift us out of the Depression...

BTW, the depression was a result of ignorant monetary policy (independent of Hoover) and the protectionist tariffs that choked off international trade.

Edit: A long time to heal, hmmm... OK. How many 10 year depressions have we had since Supply Side Economics was introduced? Actually, how many recessions have we had? Two - lasting less than 2-3 years....combined!

Edit: LOL. Another one of you guys. The deficits exploded because Bush spent money like a drunken sailor. Tax revenues have grown tremendously since the tax cuts. Unfortunately, Bush's fiscal irresponsibility grew faster.

And you might want to read some economics literature about the Great Depression before you are so quick to relieve the Smoot-Hawley Act of its role in exacerbating the Depression.

And I am sure they were surpassingly economically literate. Even though most of the economists of that time had not yet learned what we already know today.
But I am sure that some farmer's perspective about the cause of the Great Depression is just as accurate as a modern day economist's.

Answer 4

John Edwards if it was possible, but it's not with both parties moving to the right.

Johnny 2 Times - The New Deal was in response to the depression created by Herbert Hoover.
A depression takes a long time to cure. Unfortunately we may find out how long with the Bush National Debt over 9 trillion dollars.
Blaming the Smoot Hawley tariffs is like Bush blaming high taxes for declining living standards. Notice how the National Debt ballooned when the tax cuts were put in place? Trickle down economics doesn't work.

I don't need to read revisionist literature about the period, my parents, Aunts, and Uncles lived through it.

Answer 5

None of them... we live in a period of time when lobbying groups have more of a voice on legislature than electoral votes. For good or bad FDR and LBJ politics are over.... it doesn't matter if the presedient is a Democrat or a Republican. The president's term will be foreign policy driven and I can guarantee that the next president will let Congress lead a domestic policy.

Answer 6

John Edwards

Answer 7

Something is needed to amend the upcoming SS/Medicare shortfalls. And it is going to be a difficult fight since Seniors don't want their benefits cut.

We may have to restrict the right for anyone over 60 to vote for a couple of election cycles to ramrod SS/Medicare changes through the govt.

Although, I am not sure that anyone in the current crop of candidates has the balls to do anything about it, except for maybe Ron Paul.

Answer 8

No one. The Great Depression weakened the robber barons enough to where actual populist policies could be instituted.

Today's robber barons are multinational and will not be so weakened so as to allow the people that type of power again.

At least not until we have another revolution (either actual or political.)

Edit: answer for below: the SS mess can be fixed easily by raising the ceiling on taxable income and allowing it to adjust for inflation. Some Dems are suggesting this incl/ Edwards.

Answer 9

Obama.
I can think of some on the Republican side who want to destroy the last remnants of the old New Deal.

Answer 10

One that I certainly would never vote for!

FDR's New Deal was a violation of the Constitution, IMO, and has been disasterous for America and Americans.