This cartoon is a reaction to the controversies around budget deficit, which FDR’s presidency is known for.
FDR during his 1st election campaign while talking about broadening government’s responsibilities advocated balanced federal budget and criticized President Hoover for excessive spending. In 1933 the passing of The Economy Act reduced salaries of government employees and cut pensions to veterans by 15%. This allowed to save 500 millions a year (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal). However during his presidency federal budget deficit had been adding up at an unprecedented pace of $24,746,949,443 on average a year according to http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html. Hover’s budget was only increased by $6,852,813,799 a year on average. Such a deficit came as a result of all the government programs that FDR created. He argued that there were two parts of federal budget – a “regular” part, which he balanced by cutting salaries etc, and the “emergency” part. The latter he justified by unique crisis the country was going through, Great Depression. The emergency budget did not have to be balanced temporarily to help the country climb out of the crisis.