New Deal reforms altered nothing structurally, leaving the US economy’s hierarchy intact

Evidence

Roosevelt’s New Deal strengthened the trade unions and sometimes encouraged, sometimes restrained big business. It brought Jews and left-wingers into important political and administrative positions for the first time, and made the so-called Red Decade, the Rebel Thirties, possible. But neither its intentions nor its consequences included changes in the structure of the economy. The 1938 recession brought unemployment back up to ten million, and Roosevelt admitted in a public declaration that the only way out of the depression was to stimulate the arms industry. This made it unmistakably clear that developments in the USA represented the lesser evil compared with European conditions, but were in no way an alternative heralding a socialist democracy. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1034

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the Institute’s critique of state capitalism and the idea of a managed, authoritarian welfare state later developed by Pollock and Horkheimer. — connects to: The New Deal did not alter the structure of the American economy; Post-2008 financial reforms left the system’s core infrastructure unchanged — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 25; American capitalism rolled back the New Deal due to a weak working class (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Post-2008 US financial reform contained excess but did not restructure the system. #corroborates (0.85) — Natascha van der Zwan, Making Sense of Financialization, 113
• Post-2008 financial reforms left the system’s core infrastructure unchanged #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 25
• American capitalism rolled back the New Deal due to a weak working class #complicates (0.72)