Before the great depression the care of elderly was the responsibility of the extended family. Dating myself I can remember grandpa moving in with us in 1950 when he could no longer take care of himself. That responsibility was rotated/shared every 6 months with my dads brother. If there was no extended family, neighbors took in the elderly. I can also remember mom giving people food if they came to the door and needed something to eat. The church/religion was also much more active in taking care of the poor. Part of the Keynesian philosophy was getting money in the hands of the poor and elderly to make them consumers. Would it have been better to ring the excess of the 1920's out of the system without tinkering? Would the population be what it is today with out Keynesian? Would we be worring about peak oil today? Are we better society today because of Keynesian? I guess one has to measure that against what you value in life.