a T.V.A.

[Tennessee Valley Authority, a massive New Deal

public works project] every Tuesday. Did I say every
Tuesday? Two T.V.A.'s every Tuesday would be nearer the
truth. We have reached the present high levels of output and
employment only by means of $100 billion of government
expenditures, of which $50 billion represent deficits. In the usual
sense of the word, the present prosperity is "artificial," although no
criticism is thereby implied. Any simple statistical calculation will
show that the automobile, aircraft, ship-building and electronics
industries combined, comprising the fields with rosiest postwar
prospects, cannot possibly maintain their present level of
employment, or one-half, or one-third of it. . . .
[I]t is demonstrable that the immediate demobilization period
presents a grave challenge to our economy. . . . Our economic
system is living on a rich diet of government spending. It will be
found cheaper in the long run, and infinitely preferable in human
terms, to wean it gradually. . . . For better or worse, the
government under any party will have to undertake extensive action
in the years ahead.
"Shall we have Airplanes?