Question from a reader-"I'm confused about a question that rests at the heart of efforts to revive the economy.  What ended the great depression?  Was it the war, war spending, or some other mechanism?   I think I've taught, and I easily accepted that it was the war spending along with the 'full employment' of labor that cracked the downward spiral of the 1930's.  I just can't imagine that all the wasted resources paid for with war debt during the war.could have had less of an effect on the nation's economic future than the spending now necessary to create jobs, provide healthcare, and rebuild the infrastructure of the nation."