How the Great Depression Help Form Government Aid Programs
Picture taken from deviantart.com, listed url: http://kindlepics.deviantart.com/art/FDR-New-Deal-button-256755375
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The Great depression was a severe worldwide economic recession in the 1930's. The great depression was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the twentieth century. In the United States it began in 1929 on what became known as Black Tuesday when the stock market crashed. Investors lost everything, banks failed, and companies went bankrupt and fired the majority of their workers. According to history.com the current president Herbert Hoover told the public to be patient and self reliant, saying this was just a passing phase. Needles to say when he left office in 1932 the depression was still going strong. When Franklin Roosevelt became president he immediately got to work trying to stabilize the economy, aid those who were suffering, and provide jobs. His most notable effort were the "New Deal" policies and programs, which established many government aid programs still used today(History).
Roosevelt issued two New Deals the first one in 1933 was essentially put in place to stabilize the economy. Its policies included balancing the national budget, making banks a safer place for people to put their money, with programs like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured deposits up to $2,500 at the time, it insures up to $250,000 today. Since speculation and manipulation of the stock market played a large role in its crash Roosevelt sought to oversee and regulate brokers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934 and prevent abuse of the market and prevent companies from lying about their earnings. In an effort to boost sales in the economy Prohibition was repealed allowing companies to once again legally produce and sell alcoholic beverages, this created an increase in tax revenue and economic growth.
The second New Deal in the mid and later 1930's was aimed at helping individual citizens by establishing standards and government aid programs still used today. The Social Security Act was intended to be a system of universal system of retirement pensions, aiding many of the elderly who lost their corporate pensions when companies went bankrupt. The National Labor Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to form a union and bargain fair wages and benefits with their employers. It also established the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set maximum work week hours without extra pay at 44, later reduced to 40, it set minimum wages at $.25/hr, set safety regulations, and forbid employment of children under 16 and did not allow workers under 18 to work in hazardous conditions. Roosevelt also tried to provide jobs by building roads, lakes, bridges, parks, hospitals, schools, dams, and improving on existing infrastructure.
All of these changes did help the economy and the average American citizen, but not as much as people hoped they would. In 1964, in response to 19% poverty rate, President Lyndon B. Johnson set out to develop more aid programs. In 1964 he established the Food Stamp Act. The following year he set into place a second Social Security Act. The second Social Security Act established Medicare(healthcare for the elderly) and Medicaid(healthcare for the poor). All of these policies were established to help decrease the amount of American citizens living in poverty, in what became known as the "war on poverty". According to the Huffington post's article 45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below the Poverty Line: Census, 14.5% of Americans are still in poverty today. Which leads many to believe the war on poverty is a losing battle with only a 4.5% decrease.
The photo below show the government aid programs using the most tax revenue.
Roosevelt issued two New Deals the first one in 1933 was essentially put in place to stabilize the economy. Its policies included balancing the national budget, making banks a safer place for people to put their money, with programs like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured deposits up to $2,500 at the time, it insures up to $250,000 today. Since speculation and manipulation of the stock market played a large role in its crash Roosevelt sought to oversee and regulate brokers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934 and prevent abuse of the market and prevent companies from lying about their earnings. In an effort to boost sales in the economy Prohibition was repealed allowing companies to once again legally produce and sell alcoholic beverages, this created an increase in tax revenue and economic growth.
The second New Deal in the mid and later 1930's was aimed at helping individual citizens by establishing standards and government aid programs still used today. The Social Security Act was intended to be a system of universal system of retirement pensions, aiding many of the elderly who lost their corporate pensions when companies went bankrupt. The National Labor Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to form a union and bargain fair wages and benefits with their employers. It also established the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set maximum work week hours without extra pay at 44, later reduced to 40, it set minimum wages at $.25/hr, set safety regulations, and forbid employment of children under 16 and did not allow workers under 18 to work in hazardous conditions. Roosevelt also tried to provide jobs by building roads, lakes, bridges, parks, hospitals, schools, dams, and improving on existing infrastructure.
All of these changes did help the economy and the average American citizen, but not as much as people hoped they would. In 1964, in response to 19% poverty rate, President Lyndon B. Johnson set out to develop more aid programs. In 1964 he established the Food Stamp Act. The following year he set into place a second Social Security Act. The second Social Security Act established Medicare(healthcare for the elderly) and Medicaid(healthcare for the poor). All of these policies were established to help decrease the amount of American citizens living in poverty, in what became known as the "war on poverty". According to the Huffington post's article 45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below the Poverty Line: Census, 14.5% of Americans are still in poverty today. Which leads many to believe the war on poverty is a losing battle with only a 4.5% decrease.
The photo below show the government aid programs using the most tax revenue.
Picture taken from winterynight.com, listed url: http://winteryknight.com/tag/medicad/