In 1929 this was the sate of the economy:

Federal spending:   $3.13 billion
Consumer Price Index:   17.1
Unemployment:   3.2%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.02

By 1932 under the administration of Herbert Hoover this was the sate of the economy:

Federal spending:   $4.66 billion
Consumer Price Index:   13.7
Unemployment:   24.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.02 ($0.03 as of 7/6/32)

By 1940 under Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had been in office since 1933 this was the sate of the economy:

Federal spending:   $9.47 billion
Federal debt:   $50.7 billion
Consumer Price Index:   14
Unemployment:   14.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

By 1943 after the stimulus package of FDR and his New Deal this was the state of the economy:

Federal spending:   $78.56 billion
Federal debt:   $142.7 billion
Consumer Price Index:   17.3
Unemployment:   1.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

            In 1929 America was prospering, although easy credit and over exuberant stock market investors resulted in a market correction. In order to soften the blow to the economy both Hoover and then Roosevelt engaged in the same fruitless pursuits of pumping dollars into the economy for public work projects as are now being conducted under the Obama Administration.  Federal spending in 1943 increased nearly 30 times over what it was in 1929 when the depression began. The national debt tripled between 1940 and 1943, and most of the country was employed either fighting the war or working in munitions factories. It is almost comical to hear intelligent people say that the war got us out of the depression considering how the national debt had grown during that time.  

            By the time the war ended in 1946 this was the state of the economy:

Federal spending:   $55.23 billion
Federal debt:   $271.0 billion
Dow Jones High/Low:   212/165
Consumer Price Index:   19.5
Unemployment:   3.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

            The war doubled the national debt and inflation grew from 17.3 to 19.5 during the same period.  Considering that a first-class stamp costs only .03 the federal debt of $142.7 billion is a testament to how unfruitful the war was for creating national wealth.