Yes, unemployment was still high after New Deal policies. What would the unemployment numbers be without the New Deal? 30% or more? What finally ended the Great Depression? You guessed right, even greater government spending in the form of WWII. Why did we win? Maybe because the New Deal maintained an active, skilled workforce that could out-produce our enemies.

Our choices are: government intervention, or global economic depression. Remember it was free-market republican Henry Paulson who started the bailouts. Do you think he did it on a whim? You ask what does government know about banking and cars? Well, government can't do any worse than totally bankrupt.