Author: k.peters

Blog 3

 

Relation And Relief 

 

The Great Depression had brought the American Economy to a halt; its beloved institutions were failing such as Banks, factories, and farms. FDR policies when enacted were questionable at best this is shown in the article when it states “The New Deal worked to solve the current crisis and prevent future catastrophe in America alone, by American methods, “with a minimum of relationship with the outside world, which was indeed to some degree part of American political tradition.”  The Roosevelt agenda grew by experiment: the parts that worked, stuck, no matter their origin. Indeed, the program got its name by just that process: Roosevelt used the phrase “new deal” when accepting the Democratic nomination for president, and the press liked it. (pg 1).” I assert it would not be until WW2 and the massive increases of production and spending previously unimaginable by scale did America manage to climb out of this slump. 

 

 It can also be frequently seen that Roosevelt tried to assure and garner the support of the people. His fireside chats explained to the public what decisions he was taking such as rescuing the banks. He passed the Emergency Banking Act and increased the amount of money printed by the Federal bank. The goal of these was to keep these banks operational and liquidity in the market up. Even the currency’s relation to the gold standard has been altered to the beliefs of people that Bankers were responsible for the economic mess Roosevelt had increased powers to act in financial affairs.

 Roosevelt was desperate to reach average Americans as the impacts of the policies he was making could not be felt by them. Thus he decided to launch massive public works project as a form of aid this is shown in the article when it states “The spring of 1935 brought a new Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, giving the president nearly $5 billion for relief projects including highways, conservation, irrigation, electrification, housing, sanitation, reforestation, flood control, and indeed almost any conceivable public good(pg 7).” These Fireside Chats banking regulations and increased government assistance were a myriad attempt to fix a failing economy which its citizens felt the hardest hit.  Economic troubles can be difficult to deal with and governments have to maintain the delicate balancing act, there was good which came of this. Such as the SEC to regulate wall street and the FDIC ensuring our money.

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In Studying American History what I’ve found interest is how the  mercantilist system that dominated much of the colonial period sprung about and how much slave labor would shape American Business History. The Colonists would not have thrived without this access to low cost labor but it would be industrialization that would provide the shift required for Abrahams Lincolns emancipation. The issue of slavery and workers rights culminated for along time and explains movements like the Civil rights movements and Knights of labor party. Much of this early economics is built upon exploiting low cost workers for maximum profit and really brings into question the capitalist’s system and the corruption it carries.  The varying economic theory such as neo CLASSICAL Keynesian SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS are all just responses to fix an  economic system and keep it going. The advancements and strides America has made in relatively short time is highly impressive but capitalisms  has showed its capacity for misuse whether it be the Robber Barons creating monopolies buying up the courts and placing profits against public interest and the trust busters who oppose them and fight for the rights of the average worker. This prolonged struggle to me is the culmination Of Marx while this history of class conflict can create friction the government and its policy makers engineer the systems that keep our economic machine going .

The introduction and expansion of the railroad was described as extremely rapid. This change not only occurred in America but Mexico and Canada as well. It was a massive modernization to connect America as travel which was conventional was extremely slow. The Author’s main arguments was that the development of the Railroad was extremely important to America but there was massive corruption and misuse of subsidies that ended with bankrupt corporations. While the railroad made travel faster there were massive financial errors that occurred which are not commonly brought to light. The reading added to my knowledge as the Railroads also came at the cost of the Indian people and gave rise to the modern corporate lobby which companies used to compete with one another. Who were the major players that benefited from the massive modernization effort and should more corporate laws be put in place to prevent abuses. Also were judges capable of being bribed and other officials for contracts. Does the free market economy suffer more from such interferences and restrictions and what determines the degree of free market economic freedom countries are willing to allow as there will always be those people who exploit it and use it for their own official gain. What interested me was how the use of the railroads sha[ped the war and how conflict seems to provide us with modern technology. With modern combat what are the conventional methods of Troop transport would it be mostly motorized vehicles and how are such large convoys fuel supported for large scale movement. Would they also make ford an easy target and how effective are railways today as they seem to be easily destroyed in conflict. It would appear that railways could also be used within your lines and heavily protected. I’m also interested in how railroads transport modern goods.

At the end of the American Revolution in 1783 several economic and political concerns worried the newly independent nation. One such was the wealthy elite amassing too much political and economic power calling for limits on the amount of land that can be purchased. This point can be shown in (pg 110) when it states Many elites defended their traditional authority and complained that subversive democrats wanted to take all the property and level all distinctions, whereas many farmers and artisans feared an aristocracy of wealth. In order to promote their positions political factions like the Federalist who wanted a strong national government  worked to gather new followers to boost their party. The other party that developed the Republicans or the Democratic Republicans who were concerned about class conflict and wanted a more egalitarian socioeconomic structure. These democrats were looking out for the poorer classes of people against the wealthy monopolizing power. All this shows the post war turmoil as the country grappled with its socio economic policies even when Hamilton introduced a new tax there was revolt the illusion of a smooth transition for the new nation was mired in district and fears of social class. As by the end of the war America had the least amount of class division in the world. Key figures such as Hamilton and Adams feared the French Revolution for its radical ideas and liked England for its Stability so based much of their system on it. For these key members of the Federalist party the French Revolution and its Enlightenment thinkers were a danger to what they worked to build and wanted closer ties to England. As we can see the issue of class and wealth inequality shaped much of this period as strong individual property rights was of importance to American men but also the goal of attaining more economic equality.