Pros And Cons Of The New Deal

The Great Depression in the United States began on October 29, 1929. This day is known as “Black Tuesday,” when the stock market in America crashed which led the country into its most severe economic downturn. Many banks failed, the nation’s money supply diminished, and companies went bankrupt and began to fire their workers. The Great Depression is one of the worst time in the history of the United States because hour wages dropped about fifty percent. It began by the complete collapse of the stock market when about thirteen million shares of stock were sold. Over the next few years, the government instituted a series of experimental projects and programs,

The new deal might not have totally finished the Great Depression but rather it improved the circumstance. The depression didn't end until World War II. However, it influenced individuals to have more expectation, it utilized a large number of individuals and enhanced the economy.Perhaps if their was more of the new deal it would have completely ended the depression but there was more good effects than bad.For numerous years, most financial experts trusted that the New Deal was the wellspring of recuperation from the Great Depression. The regular view depended on a couple of straightforward perceptions, the most focal of which were that the most noticeably awful years of the Great Depression as far as the two noteworthy macroeconomic factors

The New Deal was thought up by none other than president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s intentions were meant to help with the current depression at the time which lasted, for about three years. The new deal was meant to make “colored” and whites equal, but that was not the case. Many citizens of the south did not believe “Negros” should get paid minimum wage, but expected them to be paid a lower amount. Many whites opposed any thought of equality between them and African American’s, but that did not stop the (NRA)National Recovery Act. A work program produced from the NRA the (CCC) Civilian Conservation Corps helped many “colored” American’s, benefit from the New Deal. The United States also needed an escape from their current depression, so Roosevelt creates the Work-Relief Bill with equality as his goal.

The wage gap is not new. In 1947, 68% of black household earned less than $10,000 annually, the number earning more than $30,000 was so small as to be negligible. The economic situation for blacks continued to be hard, and the percentage of black households earning more than $30,000 did not rise above 10% until after 1964. The causes of this very low income were the Jim Crow laws. (Robinson 431) In the 1940’s every African-American in the U.S. suffered economically, as well as in other ways, because of the Jim Crow laws. This puts them in a cycle of poverty, which is very hard to break, especially because of lingering racism.

The New Deal was good because it provided Americans with hope, jobs, and government assistance during a time when American citizens could not help themselves. The Great Depression caused the US to fall apart economically, and the New Deal was put in place to try to fix the economy. President Roosevelt thought this was the best way to fix the economy, and it was. But that doesn’t mean it was perfect. It also doesn’t mean it worked. While many good things came from the New Deal, many bad things came out as well. But the good outweighed the bad, and the New Deal began the journey out of the Great Depression.

In 1964 President Kennedy started the process of making a substantial effort to eradicate poverty when he received a memo showing that the number of families that were poor at that time (which was below the $3000 threshold) would remain poor even with full-time work if changes were not made (Haveman, R ( 1 ), Blank, R ( 2 ), Moffitt, R ( 3 ), Smeeding, T ( 4 ), & Wallace, G ( 5 ), 2015). He also directed that antipoverty measures be included in the 1964 legislation when awareness of the plight of more than 40% of blacks living in poverty was made (Haveman, R ( 1 ) et al., 2015). After his untimely assassination President Johnson moved the plan forward signing the Economic Opportunity Bill into law in 1964 (Haveman, R ( 1 ) et al., 2015). A total of $800 million (equivalent to $6 billion in today’s dollars) was appropriated to the Executive agency Johnson created to address and oversee the programs that were to be used to combat poverty (Haveman, R ( 1 ) et al., 2015). Many of the programs had existed prior to 1964 but these efforts were targeted to “provide direct services to the poor, promote the development of human capital and stimulate social and community change.” (Haveman, R ( 1 ) et al., 2015) Medicaid was also created to provide for the poor and the farm community helped to expand the Food Stamp program (which also helped address concerns about food surplus), and Housing subsidy was expanded as well and most, if not all, of these programs continue in some form

The New Deal was a specific set of government works programs put into effect by President Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal took action to bring fast economic relief as well as improvements in industry, finance, agriculture, housing, the labor force, etc. The traditional American policy of laissez-faire was opposed in the new democratic promise of the “New Deal”. The majority of the New Deal was enacted in the first couple months of FDR’s presidency, which later became known as the Hundred Days. The first objective was to lessen the hardship of the large amount of unemployed workers in the nation. The Works Progress Administration(WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) were created to establish short term government aid to temporary jobs. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was created to develop rules to govern trade practices, hours, child labor, wages, and collective bargaining. Also, the New Deal worked to avoid another stock market crash and bank failures.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) gave insurance for bank deposits and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created to protect the people from stock-market companies committing fraud. An agricultural program , the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) attempted to raise prices by providing subsidies to farmers to reduce crop production. The New Deal was filled with government works programs to help pull the country out of the Great Depression but,

The New Deal was a necessary program out in place which helped the nation and expanded the role of the government in a positive way. The nation was struggling in effect of the Great Depression and going through a hard time, and the New Deal helped the country out of it. Alone, the citizens of the United States would have never been able to pull themselves out of this mess, but the government stepped in and helped to fix the nation. The benefits of the New Deal can best be summed up with the three R’s: relief, recovery, and reform.

Shortly after the Great Depression began, society began to fail quickly. The stock market crashed, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, business’ and banks were closing and people were losing their homes they had worked so hard for. Although President Hoover was attempting to help society, he believed that instead of governmental interventions you should be self-reliant and would not fund welfare programs that may incentivize not working. Hoover’s “attempts” to aide the economy were not enough to turn it around, and people began to set their sights on Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the oncoming election. FDR made it his goal to ensure relief, recovery and reform were provided for the country to counteract the Great Depression and to make up for all of the years of negligence and non interference from the government, collectively called the “New Deal” 15 major laws were created in just the first 100 days he was in office, and his “New Deal” was coming into fruition and the governments role was now to step in and take care of it’s people, and to neglect them no longer.

America has a lengthy history on how it became the powerful country it is today, and although its history can be interrupted in many ways (depending who you ask) one thing that is for certain is that wealth has yet to be distributed equally amongst minorities. According to the article “Income inequality matter; Extreme gap in wealth makes society unstable.” Philip Meyer claims that the wealth gap between whites and minorities has existed since Ronald Reagans’ term of presidency (A9). Although Ronald Reagans’ term ended many years ago the mistakes that caused this imbalance of wealth (and its aftermath) while he was in office remains almost if not exactly the same as when the problem initially began (Meyer A9). The wealth gap continues to target minorities and is affecting our communities at an alarming rate, however, many attempts have been made to reduce its existence but the factors of income inequality, unemployment rates and discrimination before and after our recent 2007 recession prevents our country from eliminating such a toxic problem.

The New Deal allowed the government to create new programs that either provided relief or recovery, or were a reform for the problems during that time. In the time of an economic crisis, the government should get involved and provide a safety net for Americans. Government involvement is necessary to work towards a resolution, but too much involvement will put too much power in the Government’s hands, which could lead to a government type we do not want in America. During economic busts, the government should use the programs that are currently in place to provide a safety net and support Americans. However, during economic booms Americans should provide for themselves and not be reliant on the government to provide for them.

Leading up to the year 1981, America had fallen into a period of “stagflation”, a portmanteau for ‘stagnant economy’ and ‘high inflation’. Characterized by high taxes, high unemployment, high interest rates, and low national spirit, America needed to look to something other than Keynesian economics to pull itself out of this low. During the election of 1980, Ronald Reagan’s campaign focused on a new stream of economic policy. His objective was to turn the economy into “a healthy, vigorous, growing economy [which would provide] equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination.” Reagan’s policy, later known as ‘Reaganomics’, entailed a four-point plan which cut taxes, reduced government spending,

During the Great Depression Franklin Roosevelt enacted the “New Deal”, which was a series of government programs that helped the american people, this New Deal was the best thing that could have been done to help the American people who were struggling during the Great Depression, thus making it a good deal. The New Deal worked wonders in the US in terms of fixing the damage done during the Great Depression. This along with WW2 brought the US out of the worst economic depression that the country had ever faced. Despite the tragedies and the hardships that our nation was facing, The WPA, social security, and the AAA(agricultural adjustment act) helped this mighty nation persevere and remain unmoved by such a tragedy.

Economically speaking, not all men and women are created equal within America. After reading Doubly Divided, it is clear that white people have always maintained a wealthier status above non-white groups throughout this country’s history. Even in today’s society, many Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans have high poverty rates and low valued assets when compared to whites, clearly exhibiting a racial wealth gap. However, the Federal Government has greatly contributed to this wealth gap over the last 200 years through a process I call the “take and prevent method”. For example, large amounts of land were taken from Native Americans and given to white farmers under the Homestead Act of 1862. With a major asset gone, the government prevented any further wealth accumulation by forcing Native Americans onto reservations, using corrupted trust fund accounts, and assimilating them into white culture (through the 1887 Dawes Act). As an additional example, the discontinuation of the Freedman’s Bureau and an overturned civil rights act meant that African Americans had their land and rights to ownership taken away as well. And as a measure of prevention, governmental programs such as unemployment, Social Security, and

Tuesday, October 29, 1929 – otherwise known as Black Tuesday, is the day of the stock market crash. This crash caused a sudden and drastic change in the economy while also starting The Great Depression which lasted from1929--1940. Because of The Great Depression, President Hoover was disliked across the country, so when the people were electing a new President they choose Franklin Roosevelt. The new President was exceptionally eager to put in new laws and programs into effect to pull the country out of the depression. Although Franklin Roosevelt's policies gave the public relief, his New Deal only helped the public in a purely phycological way. Not only did the New Deal worsen the economy, it also was hastily put together, and it effected people fleeing the Dust Bowl for "better jobs" in California.