Evaluating the New Deal

 

For:

 

Restored the confidence of the people and improved their economic status

 

Provided work relief while building roads, buildings, parks

 

Increased government spending which helped the economy recover

 

Reduced unemployment by 5 million while treating the unemployed humanely

 

Successfully regulating capitalism through laws of lasting value

 

Expanding federal power over the economy while retaining democratic methods and personal freedoms

 

 

Against:

 

Failed to gain the confidence of the business community

 

Wasting money on valueless “make-work” projects

 

Unbalanced the budget through a program of deficit spending

 

Failing to eliminate unemployment which was still at 8 million in 1939 

 

Interfered too much with capitalism using socialistic programs

 

Increasing the number of federal employees and creating a large bureaucracy with vast power over the economy