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Category Archives: Economic History
1960s: Freedom for all Americans.
The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was officially passed on December 6, 1865 and it abolished slavery and declared the freedom for American citizens. But the freedom was not established until the 1960s, the time when Civil Rights Act passed to abolish the various discrimination in American society. The Civil Rights activists want to free themselves from “the chains of political and economic slavery.” I think that 1960s are playing a significant role in the American history because in this time the economic and political freedom are achieved, and the Civil Right Act of 1964 helped to establish these freedom.
The race and color based discrimination on the employment were exist before the 1960s. The protesters of Civil Rights movement wanted the equal opportunity to get the job, and their posters focused on the “Jobs and Freedom.” The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped the blacks to get the same opportunities that the whites had. It is clear that 1960s was the time when all Americans especially Blacks start to enjoy their new economic and political freedom.
Baby Boom
The Baby Boom appeared when the s
oldiers came back to their home from the war. The term “Baby Boom” usually refers to the dramatic post world war ll baby boom between 1946 and 1964. According To Wikipedia, there are an estimated 78.3 million Americans who were born at this time period. You can see the graph on the right side of the post how it grew dramatically in that time period.
This event is very important because it changes the market and the society. First, the market has greatly impacted by the baby boom because as more babies born, there will be more baby supplies and more hospitals for babies. And as time passes, the baby boomers will grow and the market will lean more into teenager interests such as bags, club, and so on. Finally, when they get older, and become elderly, there will be more nursing homes.
Second, it also chaged our society. As baby boomers became teenagers and young adults, they wanted the society to be changed. There was a movement to get away from conservative 1950’s and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and actually changed the hackneyed American life. Boomers’ new ways of thinking affected education, lifestyle, laws and entertainments. Many of revolutionary ideas which began by Baby Boomers are still continuing to develop these days.
Posted in 1960-1968, Cultural History, Economic History, June 14 assignment, Social History
Tagged american, Baby Boom, movement, post war impact
1 Comment
L.A. Riots of 1992
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/1bEG2AMaM7w" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Los Angeles riots were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police officers accused in the videotaped beating of African American motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit. Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six days following the verdict. At that time, similar, smaller riots and anti-police actions took place in other locations in the United States and Canada. Widespread assault, arson, looting, and murder occurred, and property damages topped roughly $1 billion. In all, 53 people died during the riots and thousands more were injured.
These riots show the significance of law enforcement and how discrimination can lead to more than just injustice but death. These people had seriously lost their minds as you can see this clip shows human beings behaving as animals.
Posted in 1989-2000, Economic History, June 8 assignment, Political history, Social History
Tagged 1992, African-Americans, L.A. Riots, Rodney King
4 Comments
Arizona’s New Law
I found this picture on connectamarillo.com in reference to Arizona’s new law on illegal immigration. This law requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the country illegally. The law also makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally. In my opinion this law is violating the natural rights of human beings because your skin color will be enough of a reason to suspect you are in this country illegally. And this is where racial profiling of hispanics will arise. Whatever happened to “States are required to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons subject to their jurisdiction, without discrimination.”? Supporters believe this law will drive many immigrants out of the country on their own. But according to statistics Arizona’s economy is suffering due to this law which anyone can conclude that immigrants are a big contribution to the economy as a whole.
Posted in 2001-present, Cultural History, Economic History
Tagged Arizona, Discrimination, human rights, Immigration
6 Comments
Health Care Reform Deja Vu
1993: Bill Clinton assigns Hillary to figure out how to reform health care. She comes up with a plan that gets everyone on to some kind of private plan, no mention of a public option. The public revolts against her and I got the feeling it was much because the public felt she overstepped her boundaries as a first lady, but that would be just my interpretation. She was treated horrifically by Republicans – just horribly – and everyone abandoned the idea. It was so ridiculous that the guy that ran against Hillary Clinton for Senate the first time around – about 8 years later – actually used it as his main campaign slogan – something like “and you know how she screwed up that health care plan”.
Well you know what? In 2005, Congress passed prescription coverage for Medicare beneficiaries without funding it. But the interesting part about that plan? It was the EXACT model that Hillary Clinton came up with for the entire health care system in 1993. Why did nobody notice? Probably because nobody was still in the news that could have made the connection between the two. I receive Medicare, so I realized how it was working and remembered it sounded exactly like the 1993 Clinton plan.
This is Clinton’s speech on health care on September 22, 1993, 8 months into his first year of office:
Posted in 1989-2000, Economic History, June 8 assignment
Tagged first ladies, health care reform, hillary clinton, medicare
1 Comment
Prediciton of the Subprime Crisis in 1999
The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999. Since the act was repealed, banks could now combine their commercial banking and their investment banking activities. Banks such as Citi and insurance firms like AIG were heavily investing in risky securities such as mortgage back securities and collateralized debt obligations. The mortgage back securities are what fueled the subprime mortgage crisis.
Senator Byron Dorgan was one of the few congressmen to vote against repealing the act. In this video, the senator predicts what will happen if the act is repealed. He correctly predicts the notion of “too big to fail.” This is when a firm gets so large, that its financial troubles will effect the entire United States economy. In order to prevent a financial disaster, this large firm is bailed out by the government. We saw this when AIG and countless other financial institutions were bailed out.
Posted in 1989-2000, Economic History, June 8 assignment
Tagged Byron Dorgan, Glass-Steagall, Subprime Crisis, Too Big To Fail
1 Comment
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 787 billion plan
The video shows Barack Obama signing the Recovery Act, an economic stimulus package.
This bill was signed into law on February 17 by President Obama at an economic forum he was hosting in Denver, Colorado.
The main goal of the Act was to bring the country back from recession on a path of recovery; the Act was intended to create jobs and promote consumer spending and investment. It also included federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits as well as domestic spending in education, health care and infrastructure.
I consider this Act a huge attempt made by the Government to recover the economics of the US, and according to various reports, the stimulus saved about 1.7 million jobs.
Posted in 2001-present, Economic History, June 8 assignment
Tagged bailout, obama, recession, stimulus
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The New Deal
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was one of the New Deals most ambitious programs. This program helped to put millions of people back to work by funding projects for highways, roads, school buildings, and sewage plants among the many other public works projects during the Great Depression Era. The poster above was frequently displayed nearby one of the funded work sites.
The New Deal was a group of economic programs implemented during president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first term in office. These programs were focused responses to the effects of the Great Depression. Overall, the programs can be summarized as focusing on the “3 Rs” which were relief, recovery, and reform. A number of programs were passed which still effect us today including the Glass-Steagall Banking Act and the Social Security Act.
The above image was taken from the National Archives.
The crash of 1929
This image is from Time.com, and it belongs to the Bettmann-Corbis archive. The picture was taken during the Great Depression that began on October 29, 1929, which is also known as Black Tuesday.
The first time I saw this picture was during a recent visit to the MoMA. At first, the image makes me smile because it shows a humorous aspect in a tragic time. During the Great depression approximately 25% of population was unemployed and affected every segment of society. The picture is important to me because it reminds me that history is repeating itself. Like in the Great depression, the world is now experiencing a huge economic downturn due to the failure of the traditional financial system.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1677033_1474476,00.html
Posted in 1920-1932, Economic History, June 7 assignment, Social History
Tagged 1929, economics, finance, Great depression, stock market, unemployment
Comments Off on The crash of 1929
2008 Economic breakdown
Recent crisis begun in the USA early fall of 2008, but the first warning we got when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. In the fall of 2008 most of big financial institution experienced huge financial problems. Many small banks bankrupted, but large institutions like Bank of America, or City Bank needed help in from of bailouts. All these problems were caused by too loose credit policy. Banks were giving credits very easily to people who weren’t able to pay them of.
I’m attaching a link to a website with several articles about crisis where you can also find a short movie which in a interesting way illustrates the reasons of crisis.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/768/global-financial-crisis
Although it’s gotten a little better we still see people struggling with the consequences of the whole economic situation. I hope people take this lesson and we will never have to experience anything like this again.
Posted in 2001-present, Economic History, June 7 assignment, June 8 assignment
Tagged crisis, Wall Street
2 Comments
