How Did The New Deal Affect Us Today

On August 14, 1935 in Austin, Texas, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inked his signature on the Social Security Act. It was originally implemented to resolve problems with unemployment, old age insurance, and public health and welfare. The Great Depression was the catalyst for the creation of the Social Security program, and the basic structure was very similar to Germany’s social insurance programs from the 1880s. Today, social security is mostly used for retired senior citizens starting at the age of 62. At 62, American citizens can begin to collect, but will only receive 35% of their monthly benefit due, rather than the maximum amount of 50% when they reach the full retirement age of 66. (cite) In addition, social security is dispersed to about 14 million disabled people under the age of 62, who can no longer work in the labor force for various reasons. The people who qualify as disabled are just a small percentage of those collecting compared to senior citizens, and are often not mentioned when social security issues are brought up because of their minute effects on social security distribution.

Lastly, the Social Security Act was one of many reform efforts that sprung from the New Deal. This act was an attempt to provide general welfare for women and their children, those with disabilities such as blindness, older individuals, and public health, and helped financially support them while they were looking for work elsewhere. It was most common with elderly individuals, as they received what is known as “old-age pensions.” This was one of the few reforms that has stayed with us since the New Deal, and was economically successful in bringing America out of the Great

The New Deal was a series of programs, including, most notably, Social Security, that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term (1933–1937) of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians refer to as the; Relief, Recovery, and Reform: relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery of the economy to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

The minimum wage was established in the United States by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at 25 cents per hour. These laws are broadly supported by the public. Congress enacted these rules to combat “labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and the general well-being of the workers” (Sharp, 2013 p. 71). The purpose and intent of

The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 as a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA established a number of constraints regarding labor including minimum wage, maximum work week, lowest employee age of 14, and other regulations. The federal minimum wage was “first established during the Depression, and it has risen from 25 cents to $7.25 per hour since” (Wihbey 1). The FLSA was established to protect the citizens and ensure a safe and fair workplace. Minimum wage was specifically included in the FLSA to ensure that employees would not be unfairly working for incredibly low wages. When minimum wage was first introduced to the US, it was determined to be “unconstitutional” in a court case. Since then, the wage has been adjusted for inflation about every 10 years.

The United States has a plethora of labor laws in place to help clarify the rights of workers, employers, and even labor unions. Federal laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act helped form the working standards that we still use in today’s society. In the scope of minimum wage policy, The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) helped pioneer the labor force in the US. The FLSA was the first federal statute (that was successfully passed) to introduce the forty-hour workweek, "time-and-a-half" for overtime work, the regulation of child labor, and set a national minimum wage for the first time. Like most federal statutes, adjustments needed to be made over its lifetime.

The social security act was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could put in place provisions in order to help the elderly. The social security act a document that helps impoverished citizens, such as the elderly and physically impaired receive benefits after retirement. Citizens’ in America during the great depression where expected to work weather elderly or physically disabled. These citizens weren’t afforded the financial stability to retire so work was a necessity to acquire money. “Prior to social security, the elderly routinely faced the prospect of poverty upon retirement” (U.S SSA). This effect of the great depression led to a lot death and homes turning into singled parent homes with no income. “The widespread

The legacies of the New Deal long out live the creators of it. At the time the idea that government would step in and make economic national policies was very much new and a scare to many Americans. The New Deal brought about a change in the role that government plays in the nation’s economy that would never reverse back to the way it was. The government took on a stronger "role as problem solver, economic stimulator, and economic regulator."

Congress as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) instituted minimum wage back in 1938. The first minimum wage was at $0.25 per hour and the last minimum wage increase occurred in 2007. Over the past 65 years the minimum wage has varied considerably in inflation-adjusted buying power. It has averaged $6.60 an hour in purchasing power in 2013 dollars, but it has ranged from a low of $3.09 an hour in late 1948 to a high of $8.67 an hour in 1968. Today’s minimum wage buys somewhat more than the minimum wage has historically, although it remains over a dollar an hour below its historical high. In addition to the federal minimum wage, nearly all states within the United States have their own minimum wage laws with the exception of South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Sixteen states have a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage. The first moves to legislate wages did not set minimum wages, rather the laws created arbitration boards and councils to resolve labor conflicts before the recourse to strikes.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935 as a means to battle the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Beginning in 1932, the government had started providing

The first minimum wage law was imposed in New Zealand in 1894; since then other countries have followed. Forty-four years later, the United States enacted The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 which set the United States minimum wage to $0.25 for workers who were covered. Since 1938, as the standard of living increases in the country, the minimum wage has been “raised 22 separate times–most recently, in July 2009, to $7.25 an hour” (Center for Poverty Research UC Davis; 2018), where it currently remains. Although there is a federal minimum wage, states and cities are allowed to set floor rates higher than the federal rate. Minnesota’s minimum wage is currently $7.87 but Minneapolis recently decided to raise their minimum wage to $15.

The Social Security Act was the second New Deal Program created in 1935. The Social Security Act helped Americans during a terrible crisis. This program dealt with unemployment benefits and retired Americans incomes payments. A portion of the program helped the handicapped and the disabled Americans to adjust their incomes. The Social Security Act was counted as the greatest righteous success in the century. President Roosevelt signed original Social Security Act. The Social Security was brought about to limit the damage that the Great Depression did. The Great Depression was the world's worst nightmare the economy had to ever experience. The Social

The Social Security act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935 (Traditional Sources of Economic Security, n.d.). The Social Security Act was put in place to not only help with general welfare, but also created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers that were age 65 or older continued income after retirement (Traditional Sources of Economic Security, n.d.). The Social Security program is a program that so many people depend on not only after they retire, but also if they become disabled and are not able to work. The Social Security Act and laws that are related to it were established for the following purposes: to provide for the material needs of individuals and families, to protect aged and disabled persons against the expenses of illnesses that may use up their savings, to keep families together, and to give children the chance to grow up healthy and secure (Intro to Social Security, n.d.). All of the purposes listed allow individuals to be able to live their lives and not be a poverty level, while still having access to other benefits that will help them. Under the Social Security Act there are many different programs available to assist those that qualify for social security, which is what I will discuss next.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is one of the most renowned United States president. He was in enacted in office from March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945 making him the longest president taking a seat in the White House. He sat as the 32nd president and was well known to have achieved many accomplishments for the country. In addition to this, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also elected as a governor of New York from 1929-1932. Furthermore, when Roosevelt became president, he assumed his presidency during the Great Depression and created many laws to improve the country and recover it from the Depression. He introduced the New Deal in relief of the Great Depression. Some of the laws in this New Deal were the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Work Progress Administration (WPA), Tennessee Valley Authority, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Social Security Act, and many more. Many of these laws improved the United States economy.

Many of the federal and state programs that provide income security to U.S. families have their roots in the Social Security Act (the Act) of 1935. This Act provided for unemployment insurance, old-age insurance, and means-tested welfare programs. The Great Depression was clearly a catalyst for the Social Security Act of 1935, and some of its provisions—notably the means-tested programs—were intended to offer immediate relief to families. However, the old-age insurance program—the precursor to today's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, or Social Security, program—was not designed specifically to deal with the economic crisis of that era. Indeed, monthly benefit payments, under the original Act, were not scheduled to begin until 1942.