- Americans don't take off their shoes in the house. The maximum is when the rain and the boots are damp or you were in the swamp. In other cases, you can safely walk around the house in shoes, throw your feet in shoes on the sofa. Because it's clean!
- Americans like to put their feet on a table or on a nearby chair. This is not considered bad manners or disrespectful to others. This is a sign that a person is comfortable :)
- Men don't take off their baseball caps in restaurants. Nobody will tell them anything.
- In any restaurant you can take the leftovers of your dish with you. In any!
- Almost all men wear white T-shirts as underwear. They wear them under other T-shirts and any shirts. And they bathe only in special swimming trunks-shorts to the knee. American men will never appear on the beach in swimming trunks or tight boxers. It's a shame!
- Many homes do not have irons and ironing boards. Why? Because everyone has a tumble dryer that they throw clothes into after they've been washed. 40 minutes and clean, wrinkled, dry and warm clothes will be waiting for a trip to the closet :) And if something very wrinkled is lying around in the closet, then they throw it in dry form and after 10 minutes the thing will be smoothed out.
- A lot of people don't use cooking oil. If there is one, then soybean oil is sold here, which is similar to our sunflower oil. Spray is used for cooking. Like olive, like regular. An aerosol can, zilch-zilch in a frying pan and you're ready to cook!
- On Christmas and other holidays, it is perfectly normal to give each other clothes as gifts. If you don’t like something or don’t fit in size, then in the store, when you buy it, you will be given a gift check for this case. Such a check does not indicate the amount, but it can be used to exchange or return things. Comfortable!
- Any store accepts products back without any problems. If the bread is moldy the next day after purchase, even if it is open, then you can take it back. In return, they will give the same or a different product. Sometimes they even offer a discount. Exactly the same situation with medicines, cosmetics and other things. Must have a receipt(!). They will return it without any problems, the main thing is that the client is satisfied :)
- In stores, almost all bread is sold toasted, that is, for frying in a toaster. If eaten raw, it is not very tasty, but fried is very even! The only thing is that such bread spoils incredibly quickly, so it is stored in the freezer. After defrosting, it does not lose its taste and texture properties.
- Any milk or cream must not be left outside the refrigerator. Will go bad in minutes.
- All have cable TV. Therefore, you can record your favorite movies and shows in advance, rewind the show forward and backward in real time within certain limits, and also pause it, as it is loaded, like on YouTube. Missing something is impossible!
- Each Christmas present is boxed and wrapped in wrapping paper. Convenient boxes can be taken in almost any store for free. they consist of two parts: a bottom and a lid. In the end, everything looks very nice!
- It is not possible to get 1 gift for Christmas. Several gifts are always bought according to a pre-compiled list. For example, you make a list of any 20 "wish lists" and your family buys from this list. But what exactly they will buy for you is a surprise! As a result, there is no headache for the family, no "unpleasant" surprises for you. Everyone is happy :)
- At Christmas, many families take a group photo or a collage of previous photos and print postcards for friends and family members. The postcards are then sent out or handed over in person. A convenient way to collect photos of your friends: every year a new photo of your grandchildren, cousins and distant friends. For memory!
- Americans love to use all sorts of devices. Almost every specific task has its own device: for certain cupcakes - a certain baking dish, for a certain type of cleaning - a device and a mop, for a certain type of food - a special pan or device that does this. That is, a blender is only for smoothies and a blender is only for sauces :) And they will not make smoothies in a blender for sauces and vice versa. And there are many such examples!
- Americans love to decorate their homes. Holidays and seasons. Decorate both inside and out. It can be seasonal napkins with a spring pattern, or garlands around the whole house and luminous statues :)
- It is rare in the United States to live in the same house for the rest of their lives. There is even such a thing as "the first house". It is usually inexpensive and small in size, but this is just a start. A person can change five or six houses in a lifetime, depending on family circumstances. Houses are usually upgraded upwards, but interestingly, as people age, people move from their big, expensive houses to small, comfortable ones.
- At 90, it's perfectly normal to drive a car. Both men and women. At 97, it's not a problem to fly from New York to Los Angeles, and then to Florida to visit family. Medicine works wonders
- Very often, families gather together for holidays or for an annual family gathering. Well, that is, in general, the whole family comes from all over the country .. All uncles, aunts, brothers, nephews. Some families have up to 100 relatives. They live in hotels or rent houses.
- Americans take student loans and then pay for them for many years after graduation. Many parents open a special savings account for their children immediately after birth. You can use it only when you reach the age of 18 when entering the College.
- Americans love to save money. There are special accounts for Christmas gifts, for retirement, for any other needs. Regularly replenish every month.
- Millionaires live in small modest houses and walk around in the most simple clothes, drive inexpensive and far from new cars. And that's okay! What you often don't realize is that the t-shirt-holed gentleman owns millions in bank accounts and owns several homes across America.
The 20th century has gone down in history as the "American Century" in the minds of so many people. But the attitude towards the country that gave its name to the twentieth century is ambiguous all over the world, just as the American historical experience itself is contradictory and ambiguous. An example of extremes and contradictions is the perception of the United States by modern Russian society. However, this was not always the case: even 15 years ago, our attitude towards America was very homogeneous and sharply critical.
Already in the first half of the twentieth century, you can see a lot of evidence of the same "American century". By the beginning of the last century, the economy and new technologies were developing rapidly in the United States. The country entered the stage of "organized capitalism". In no European country have monopolies been as powerful as in the United States. An impressive rationalization of the American economy is taking place. New modes of government are developing, such as Fordism. There is a crisis of 1929-1933, which shook not only the national economy of the United States, but also the economies of the whole world. And, finally, F. Roosevelt's "New Deal", which was the key to getting the United States out of the crisis.
It is these points that I am going to consider in more detail in my essay - the rationalization of the American economy, Fordism, the crisis of 1929-1933, F. Roosevelt's New Deal.
The rationalization of the American economy
In 1924 the United States of America, like other countries of the capitalist world, entered a period of temporary partial stabilization of capitalism. The most important features of this period were the economic upsurge, the growth of industrial production and trade, the technical re-equipment of enterprises, the strengthening of the power of the bourgeoisie, and the weakening of the workers' and democratic movement. In the United States, all the main manifestations of partial capitalist stabilization have manifested themselves with much greater force and clarity than in the countries of Western Europe. First of all, the United States managed to overcome the economic upheavals caused by the consequences of the First World War and the crisis of 1920-1921 much faster. Already at the end of 1922, having reached the pre-crisis level of industrial production, they entered a period of industrial growth, while England, France and Germany achieved relative economic stabilization only in 1924.
The economic recovery in the USA continued for almost seven years, until the middle of 1929, and was very significant: the total volume of industrial production in the USA in 1929 exceeded the level of the pre-crisis 1920 by 32%. True, the progressive development of the American economy during the period of capitalist stabilization in the 1920s was not of a permanent nature. Twice, in 1924 and in 1927. it was interrupted by partial recessions. But both of them were short-lived and relatively shallow, and each time the economic recovery in the United States resumed with renewed vigor.
The intensive industrial upsurge in the USA in the 1920s was due to the enormous strengthening of American imperialism during the World War, the promotion of this country to the ranks of the strongest capitalist powers. The transformation of the United States into the center of the financial exploitation of the world enabled the monopoly bourgeoisie to extract gigantic profits. From 1923 to 1929 inclusive, the net profits of the American monopolies amounted to a total of $50.4 billion, that is, 1.5 times more than during the First World War.
With huge funds at their disposal, the American monopolies carried out a massive renewal of fixed capital, equipped enterprises with the latest technology, and built new plants and factories. On this basis, a major step was taken in the development of the most important branches of heavy industry. For 1923-1929 steel production in the United States increased from 49 million to 61.7 million tons, oil production - from 732 million to 1007 million barrels, and electricity production - from 71.4 billion to 116.7 billion kWh. On the whole, compared with the pre-war level, US industrial production increased by 72% by the end of the 1920s. The country's rapid economic development during the years of relative capitalist stabilization gave the US monopoly bourgeoisie enormous advantages over the bourgeoisie of other countries. It is known that the British economy experienced a clear stagnation in the 1920s, France lagged far behind the United States in terms of economic growth, and Germany was just embarking on the path of accelerated restoration of its economic potential, sharply weakened by its defeat in the First World War. The particularly favorable situation then created for the United States led to a sharp increase in their share in the world economy. By the end of the 1920s, the United States provided 48% of the industrial production of the capitalist world. They produced 10% more industrial output than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan combined.
New branches of industry developed especially rapidly and were equipped with the latest science and technology. The most striking example was the rapid growth of the automotive industry. Large automobile factories were built in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. But it wasn't until the 1920s that the American automobile industry really took to the rails of mass production. In 1929, the production of automobiles in the country increased to 5337 thousand, which was about 11 times higher than the pre-war level. The production capacity of the automobile industry at the end of the 1920s made it possible to increase output even more: in the spring of 1929, on certain days, up to 25 thousand cars left the assembly lines of American automobile plants.
The result of this unusually high rate of development of the automobile industry was the rapid penetration of the automobile into American life. By the end of the 1920s, a total of 26.7 million vehicles were in operation in the United States, including 23.1 million cars. It was much more than in all other countries of the world. Mass production and the gradual reduction in the cost of the car contributed to its distribution among a fairly wide segment of the population: in 1929, there were 189 cars per thousand inhabitants of the United States. The car became in the 20s a truly symbol of American "prosperity".
The development of the automotive industry in the United States was associated primarily with the name of Henry Ford, a major designer and organizer, who became in the 20th century. the owner of one of the giant automobile "empires". In 1908, the production of the famous “Model T” began at the Ford factories, which then became widely known throughout the world under the name “Ford”. For 20 years, from 1908 to 1927, about 15 million cars of this brand were produced, after which the Ford factories were transferred to the production of another, more comfortable model. In the 1920s, the mass production of cars, in addition to the Ford company, was started by two more large companies - General Motors and Chrysler.
In 1929, the Big Three accounted for 83% of all automobile production in the United States. The rapid increase in output at the factories of Ford, and then other firms, was achieved through increased rationalization of production. It included, on the one hand, the technical re-equipment of enterprises, an increase in their power supply, extensive mechanization of production processes, and, on the other hand, the introduction of standardization, the mass production of standard parts and their subsequent high-speed assembly on conveyor lines. An increase in productivity, and even more intensity of labor, ensured a significant increase in output per worker. In 1923-1929. it grew by an average of 43%. This allowed the capitalists to reduce the number of workers, leave only the strongest and most enduring on the conveyor lines, pay them somewhat higher wages for more productive and, most importantly, much more intensive work, and still have savings due to a sharp reduction in the total number of employees. Thus, the capitalist rationalization of production intensified the exploitation of some workers and threw others out into the street. In both cases it somehow turned against the proletariat.
Other new branches of American industry developed just as rapidly: electrical, chemical, synthetic materials, and the radio industry. The growth of power supply and the introduction of new technology created the basis for a significant increase in production in some other sectors of the economy. In the late 1920s, about 70% of factory machines were electrified in the USA. As in the automotive industry, the high growth rates of production in a number of branches of heavy industry during the years of capitalist stabilization were to a large extent ensured by the intensified labor intensification of workers.
During the years of partial capitalist stabilization, the process of urbanization and industrialization of the United States accelerated even more. The total population of the country for 1920-1930, according to official data of the 14th and 15th qualifications, increased from 105.7 million to 122.8 million, that is, by 16%. At the same time, the urban population increased over 10 years from 54.2 million to 69 million (by 27%), while the increase in the rural population was immeasurably slower: the number of rural residents increased from 51.5 million to 53.8 million, i.e. only 4.5%. As a result of such a sharp discrepancy in the growth rates, the share of the urban population in 1920-1930. increased from 51.3 to 56.2%, while the share of the rural population decreased from 48.7 to 43.8%.
The population of the most important industrial regions grew with particular speed. Every year the number of large urban agglomerations increased, including large cities, their surrounding suburbs and satellite cities that practically merged with them. As early as 1920, there were 58 such vast urbanized areas in the United States, in which about 36 million people lived, that is, a third of the country's population. By 1930, the number of these large urban agglomerations reached 97, and their total population increased to 55 million, amounting to about 45% of the US population.
The ever-increasing level of urbanization and industrialization of the United States during the 1920s was also reflected in the change in the structure of the country's economically active population. Its total number increased in 1920-1930. from 42.2 million to 48.7 million people. This growth was primarily due to the rapid increase in the number of workers employed in industry, construction and transport (from 17 million to 19.3 million), as well as the number of people employed in trade, financial institutions and the service sector (from 8 .8 million to 14 million), while the number of self-employed agricultural population decreased (from 11.1 million to 10.5 million).
By manipulating data on the economic recovery in the United States, bourgeois propaganda, inspired by official Washington, strenuously spread the thesis about the strength and inviolability of stabilization. President Coolidge's annual State of the Union address in December 1925 proclaimed that America had entered "an era of enduring general prosperity." Doxology in honor of "prosperiti" reached its zenith in the late 1920s. The most prominent figures of both parties, especially the leaders of the ruling Republican Party, spoke in every way about the onset of "eternal prosperity", about the "liquidation of crises", about successes in the cause of "poverty eradication". In August 1928, in one of his campaign speeches, H. Hoover solemnly announced: “America is now closer to a complete victory over poverty than ever in the history of any country in the world ... We have not yet reached this goal, but if we have the opportunity to continue the same policy that has been pursued for the past eight years, we, with God's help, will soon bring closer the day when poverty will be forever expelled from our country.
To a superficial observer, the picture of the economic situation in the United States by the end of the 1920s was very optimistic. The result of the industrial boom was a new increase in the US national income. For 1923-1929 it increased from 74.3 billion to 86.8 billion dollars, i.e. by 17%. But its distribution was extremely uneven. The lion's share was appropriated by a small handful of monopolists. In 1929, the big bourgeoisie, which constituted only about 1 percent of the active US population, accounted for 14.5 percent of the country's national income. 513 millionaires received an income equal to the total annual wages of 1 million workers. But still something fell to the lot of the petty bourgeoisie and the upper strata of the working class. Increasing incomes and the widespread use of installment sales created quite significant opportunities for these groups of the population to purchase, sometimes for cash, and more often on credit, cars, radios, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and other household appliances.
The twenties were also marked by tremendous growth in the value of shares. In five years, from December 1924 to October 1929, the shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange increased in price from $27 billion to $87 billion, i.e., more than tripled. It is not surprising that by the end of the 1920s, a real exchange bacchanalia began in the country. Millions of Americans were drawn into it, turning their savings to purchase securities, hoping that the non-stop growth in the value of shares in conditions of “eternal prosperity” would make them rich.
The leaders of the US business world sought to reinforce these illusory hopes with their authority. Thus, in 1929, the chairman of the financial committee of General Motors, J. Raskob, quite seriously argued that if each worker and employee saves $ 15 a week and regularly purchases the most solid shares with these funds, then in 20 years he will will have a capital of 80 thousand dollars. “In my opinion,” J. Raskob concluded, “everyone in our country not only can, but must become rich.” Many ordinary Americans, mesmerized by this prospect of easy enrichment, tended to believe everything that was said in those years about the "brilliant future" of American capitalism. But the situation in the country did not at all confirm these optimistic forecasts. The stabilization of capitalism in the United States, as well as in other capitalist countries, took place under the conditions of a general crisis of capitalism and therefore was temporary, partial and fragile. This was evidenced primarily by the extreme unevenness of the development of various branches of industry. With the rapid growth of a number of new branches of heavy industry, there was a stagnation, and sometimes even a decline in production in such traditional sectors of the economy as coal mining, shipbuilding and most light industries.
The increase in industrial production in the industries that produced the essentials (textiles, footwear, food, etc.), even in the best years of "prosperity", was only slightly higher than the population growth. In the second half of the 1920s, there was a significant reduction in housing construction. Even more unfavorable was the situation in the coal mining industry. In 1923-1929. coal production in the United States fell from 658 million to 609 million tons, i.e. by 8%, and the number of workers employed in coal mines fell from 864 thousand to 654 thousand, or by 23%. But the most alarming symptom that emerged by the end of the 1920s was a reduction in the scale of renewal of fixed capital. If in 1924 spending on new capital construction accounted for 76% of all private investment, by 1929 their share had dropped to 35%. All this meant that in many traditional industries in the United States, especially those that were directly related to consumer demand, signs of overproduction showed up much earlier and more intensely than in rapidly progressing new sectors of the economy.
Important indicators of the fragility of the capitalist stabilization of the 1920s were also the constant underutilization of the production apparatus and chronic mass unemployment. Even at the end of the 1920s, during the most favorable period of "prosperity", the production capacities of industry were generally loaded by about 80%, and in a number of industries the underutilization of the production apparatus reached 25-30%. The number of unemployed in the United States, according to the most conservative estimates, fluctuated during 1924-1929. 1.5 to 2 million
Finally, a sign of the fragility of capitalist stabilization in the United States was the unfavorable state of agriculture. After the First World War, it entered a new stage in its capitalist evolution, prepared by the rapid growth of agricultural production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. as a result of the victory of the farming path of development of capitalism in US agriculture. The final completion of a long period of distribution of homesteads at the expense of state fund lands, the complete depletion of the resources of the "free" lands of the West, suitable for settlement and cultivation - all this contributed to the fact that American farming began to move from extensive forms of capitalist agriculture to intensive methods of farming, to the use of machines, artificial fertilizers, the latest agricultural techniques. As early as 1920, 246,000 tractors and 4,000 combines were used in US agriculture. The development of capitalism in breadth, which had long been a characteristic feature of the evolution of American agriculture, was replaced by the development of capitalism in depth.
However, the agrarian crisis that began in 1920 and was not overcome during the entire period of the 1920s disrupted the normal conditions of reproduction in agriculture for a long time. True, the most acute phase of the agrarian crisis, characteristic of 1920-1923, changed in 1924-1928. its somewhat relaxed phase. But even then, neither agricultural prices nor farm incomes reached pre-crisis levels. During the second half of the 1920s, the gross income of American farming remained at the level of 13-14 billion dollars, while in 1919, before the onset of a long agrarian crisis, it was 17.9 billion dollars.
The fall in prices had the hardest impact on the situation of small and medium-sized farmers, whose farms became chronically unprofitable. Therefore, the ruin and displacement of small-scale production in agriculture proceeded during the period of partial capitalist stabilization with unprecedented speed. Only for 1925-1929. 547 thousand farms (8.7% of the total) were forcibly sold under the hammer for non-payment of debts and taxes. In the 1920s, the flight of farmers to the cities acquired enormous proportions. Since American industry was experiencing a significant boom at that time, some of the settlers managed to get work. However, most of them have not been able to find employment. Therefore, many, having exhausted their meager funds, were forced to return back. Nevertheless, the flight of farmers to the cities took place at a faster rate than their return to rural areas, as a result of which the net loss of the farming population in the United States amounted to 1920-1930 for 1920-1930. 6.3 million people. The ruin of small and medium-sized farming then proceeded so rapidly that by the end of the 1920s, the next census for the first time in US history recorded an absolute reduction in the total number of farming population (from 32 million in 1920 to 30.5 million in 1930) and the number of farms in the country (respectively from 6448 thousand to 6289 thousand).
The agrarian crisis also significantly worsened the position of the capitalist strata of farming. A strong fall in prices reduced the profitability of their economy. The need to adapt to the unfavorable conditions of the agricultural market required a sharp reduction in the cost of production through a radical technical re-equipment of agriculture. But this was available only to relatively few groups of the farming bourgeoisie. By the end of the 20s, 920 thousand tractors and 61 thousand combines were already used in US agriculture, which indicated a significant increase in its technical equipment, however, according to agricultural statistics, only 13.5% of farms were equipped at that time tractors and only about 1% - combines.
The process of industrialization of US agriculture, which began in the 1920s, its transition from the manufacturing stage to the stage of machine production, took place in much less favorable conditions than in industry. The general historical backwardness of agriculture, which became even more aggravated with the country's entry into the era of imperialism, the new intensification of the exploitation of farming by the monopolies - all this led to the unusually deep and protracted nature of the crisis of overproduction in agriculture. The oppression of finance capital in the context of the agrarian crisis has placed a particularly heavy burden on the shoulders of small and medium-sized farmers. But the domination of the monopolies had a tangible effect on the position of the agricultural bourgeoisie. The enormous tribute they levied from all farming, including from its capitalist elite, limited the possibilities of capitalist accumulation, diverted large financial resources from productive use, and dragged out the process of overcoming the agrarian crisis for many years.
Thus, in a number of important branches of the American economy in the second half of the 1920s, the phenomena of overproduction became more and more pronounced. This gradually shattered the foundations of American "prosperity". Compared with the countries of Western Europe, signs of the fragility of the stabilization of capitalism in the United States were much weaker. But still, this largest and richest capitalist country was also characterized by a glaring contradiction between the growing production possibilities of the economy and the relatively low purchasing power of the broad masses of the population.
During the years of partial capitalist stabilization in the United States, there was some increase in the wages of workers, but it was relatively small. According to government statistics, the average annual nominal wages of workers employed in the manufacturing industry, construction, and transport increased over the years 1924-1929. from 1519 to 1620 dollars, i.e., by only 6.5%, and the wages of workers in the mining industry even decreased (from 1703 to 1526 dollars). Meanwhile, according to calculations by American economists, to meet only the basic needs of a family of four at the then price level, it was necessary to have an income of at least $2,000 a year. No wonder President Coolidge, in one of his messages to Congress in 1926, was forced to admit that "the majority of workers do not share the fruits of prosperity." But they were not shared by many other groups of the working population of cities and farms. According to very conservative estimates, even in 1929, at the height of "prosperity", the incomes of 60% of American families were below the subsistence level. This convincingly testifies to the fragility of the capitalist stabilization of the 1920s.
Fordism
Fordism is one of the socio-economic trends. The name comes from the name of Henry Ford and is associated with his activities.
At the heart of Fordism is the view that social welfare and high corporate profits can be achieved at the expense of high wages for workers, which will allow the latter to buy the products they produce. The word "Fordism" began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century to describe the practices applied in the automobile factories of Henry Ford. An integral part of this system is the conveyor.
The Fordist production system has 4 distinctive key elements:
- Division of labor - processes are broken down into small operations that can be performed by low-skilled personnel. Highly qualified personnel are engaged in management, development and process improvement.
- High standardization of components, assemblies and spare parts.
- The organization is not around machines with certain properties, but the machines are placed in the order necessary for production.
- A conveyor belt links the various stages of the process.
The whole system is aimed at reducing the cost of the manufactured product (car).
Crisis of 1929-1933
A full-blown recession in the United States began in August 1929, two months before the stock market crash (construction began to decline as early as 1926). In February 1930, the Fed responded to the onset of the crisis by lowering the prime rate from 6% to 4%. In addition, government bonds were purchased from the market to maintain liquidity. For the next two years, the Fed did next to nothing. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon believed that the market should be allowed to make the necessary adjustments in proportions and prices.
In June 1930, the United States adopted the so-called Smoot-Hawley Tariff, imposing a 40 percent duty on imports in order to protect the domestic market. This measure became one of the main channels for transmitting the crisis to Europe, as the marketing of European products in the United States was difficult.
At the end of 1930, bank depositors began a run on deposits, which led to a wave of bank failures. As a result, an absolute contraction of the money supply began. The second banking panic occurs in the spring of 1931. All these months, the authorities have not reacted in any way to the growing economic tsunami. GDP in 1930-1931 falls by 9.4% and 8.5% respectively, and the unemployment rate rises from 3.2% at the beginning of 1930 to 15.9% by the end of 1931.
In 1932, GDP declined by 13.4%, and in total since 1929 - by 31%. The unemployment rate in 1932 increased to 23.6%. In the three-plus years since the crisis began, more than 13 million Americans have lost their jobs. Industrial stocks have lost 80% of their value since 1930, and agricultural prices have fallen 53% since 1929. In three years, two out of every five banks went bankrupt, their depositors lost $2 billion in deposits. The money supply has declined in par value by 31% since 1929.
Toronto Unemployed March, Canada
Against the background of a slight expansion of the monetary base (from 6.05 billion dollars in 1929 to 7.02 billion in 1933), the money supply fell sharply - from 26.6 billion to 19.9 billion dollars. Waves of bank failures undermined people's confidence in financial institutions, savings were feverishly withdrawn from deposits and converted into cash. The surviving banks, in turn, avoided issuing new loans, preferring to keep money in the most liquid form. Thus, the bank multiplier dropped sharply and the banks' credit and deposit issue was virtually paralyzed. The desire of both banks and the public to keep money in cash, no doubt, sharply intensified the recession.
Natural population growth in the United States during the Great Depression fell sharply.
In 1932, in Detroit, the police and Henry Ford's private security service shot down a procession of starving workers who were holding a hunger march. Five people were killed, dozens were wounded, those who were objectionable were subjected to repression.
F. Roosevelt's "New Deal"
The "New Deal" is the name of the economic policy pursued by the administration of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt since 1933 in order to overcome the large-scale economic crisis (Great Depression) that gripped the United States in 1929-1933.
Assuming office on March 4, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt in his speech promised to use the most energetic measures to combat the crisis. The Roosevelt government immediately took extraordinary measures - on March 9, a special session of Congress began, which lasted more than 3 months and adopted a number of important laws that seriously affected the US economy and laid the foundation for the New Deal. This period is called "the first 100 days". The most important task was to save and stabilize the US financial system. The policy of the new course was based on measures to strengthen state regulation of the economy, deficit financing of the budget, and the most important institutional reforms.
Banking
One of Roosevelt's first steps was to declare a "bank holiday" on March 6 for a week during which all US banks were closed. Further, in order to "clean up" the banking system, a total audit of all banks was carried out. Bankrupt banks came under the control of the state-owned Reconstructive Finance Corporation (RFC). Sustainable banks were eligible for further work. As a result, the banking system was consolidated - most of the banks recognized as "healthy" were large.
In order to improve the situation, a number of important laws were adopted. One of the most important was the Glass-Steagall Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Act of June 16, 1933. Commercial banks were forbidden to work with securities, this right was given to specialized financial organizations - thereby, the risks to which the funds of bank depositors were exposed were reduced. In order to prevent the attraction of funds at higher rates, typical for high-risk transactions, a ban on the payment of interest on current accounts was introduced, interest on deposit accounts was subject to regulation by the Federal Reserve System (FRS). Exchange credit was regulated.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created - banks made contributions to the insurance fund, in the event of bankruptcy, the FDIC sanitized the bank and paid out deposits within the statutory limit on deposits in one bank.
Industry
Measures aimed at normalizing production were reflected in the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), adopted on June 16, 1933. This law was based on a plan proposed in 1931 by the president of the company "General Electric" Gerard Swope, approved by the US Chamber of Commerce. The law ordered all associations of entrepreneurs to develop codes of "fair competition" that determined the conditions, the volume of production, the minimum price level. At the same time, antitrust measures were removed from enterprises that adopted such codes. This alignment was beneficial to large monopolies, which actually determined the conditions of production and marketing in their industries. About 557 basic and 189 additional codes were drawn up, covering more than 95% of workers. The adoption of codes contributed to the forced cartelization of industry.
Article 7 of the NIRA contained measures of a social nature - it introduced restrictions on the length of the working week and prescribed a mandatory minimum wage. It also recognized the right to organize trade unions and conclude collective agreements.
Control over the implementation of the NIRA program was entrusted to the National Recovery Administration created by the president.
Social sphere
To combat unemployment, as well as to improve the material situation of the population, the following measures were taken: direct assistance to the unemployed, the introduction of an unemployment insurance system and the organization of public works.
So, on May 12, 1933, about 0.5 billion dollars were allocated to help the unemployed, in total more than 4 billion dollars were spent. Most of the unemployed preferred public works to receiving benefits. Based on the recommendations of the NIRA, the Public Works Administration (PWA) was created, dealing mainly with large construction projects, thereby proving that "money was not wasted." The total amount of work performed on its projects amounted to about 3.3 billion dollars.
For unemployed youth in the spring of 1933, the government organized camps in which young people worked and lived for six months, having full provision. The salary was about 30 dollars, of which 25 dollars went to the family of the worker.
In 1935, a law was passed providing for insurance against old age and unemployment. Despite the low level of payments and the non-distribution of the law to significant sections of the working people (agriculture, civil servants, etc.), the law had a revolutionary significance. A significant step in the second stage of reforms was the adoption on July 5, 1935, of the National Labor Relations Act, the so-called Wagner Act. The law guaranteed the rights of workers to organize, conclude a collective agreement, and organize strikes. The next stage in the development of social rights was the adoption in June 1938 of the law on fair working conditions (FSLA), which provided for a mandatory minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, the introduction of a one and a half tariff if the working week was exceeded (44 hours, since 1940 - 40 hours), limited child labor.
housing construction
During the Great Depression, the government paid considerable attention to the development of housing construction, in particular mortgage lending. Thus, in 1933, the first company was created to issue bonds to finance mortgages, the Homeowners Loan Corporation. In 1938, the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), which is under state control, was created. The initial capital of the company was formed at the expense of the budget.
Agriculture
In May 1933, Roosevelt signed the Farmers' Relief Bill, which proposed measures to deal with the crisis in agriculture associated with falling prices for products and the massive ruin of farmers. The main part of it was the law on the regulation of agriculture, known as the AAA law (the Agricultural Adjustment Act).
His main idea is to eliminate the "scissors" between the price spent by the farmer on the production of products, and the one he received when selling it. In order to balance supply and demand and raise the price of agricultural products, part of the land was withdrawn from agricultural circulation, for which subsidies were paid to farmers. First of all, this measure increased the competitiveness of large farms, which received the bulk of the premiums for reducing the seed fund.
Subsequently, a number of measures were taken to help smaller farmers. In 1935, the Resettlement Administration was established, which was transformed in early 1937 into the Administration for the Protection of Farms. These institutions provided financial assistance to small farmers for the purchase of farms and their resettlement to better land, stimulated the development of cooperatives for the marketing of products, the purchase of equipment.
In 1936, a law was passed on the conservation of soil fertility and on quotas for the domestic market. According to its provisions, bonuses were paid to those farms that reduced the area under crops that deplete the soil, as well as for measures to improve the soil. The need for these measures was caused by a severe drought in 1934, accompanied by dust storms.
The Agricultural Regulation Act of 1938 introduced the concept of "always a normal granary". The goal of the new undertakings was the same - the restoration of price parity, but the methods of achievement were already different - the products were not destroyed, but preserved, payments were made on account of products that had not yet been sold.
In May 1935, the government created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which organized rural electrification work.
Conclusion
Having considered the following points: the rationalization of the American economy, Fordism, the crisis of 1929-1933, F. Roosevelt's "New Deal", we can safely say that yes, the 20th century really went down in history as the "American Century". Seeing what a breakthrough American society has made at least for a few decades, the indisputability of the above fact becomes obvious. Even despite the failures in the form of a deep economic crisis, our neighbors from the American continent managed to overcome this devastation in a fairly short time. An analysis of the events of those years shows that the extreme determination of the people of the United States to be the first power in the world in everything and always.
20s 20th century received the name in the USA era of prosperity". The years of "prosperity" (prosperity) were characterized by a continuous increase in industrial production (from 1921 to 1929, industrial production increased by a third). The Americans were convinced that soon each of them would have their own house, refrigerator, washing machine and car.
By 1929, the US accounted for 48% of the industrial production of the entire capitalist world. The US national income in 1929 was equal to the national income of the 23 largest states. During this period, the impression was created that American goods filled the whole world. Residents of the United States began to travel a lot, and the most popular form of transport after the car was the plane.
Thousands of salesmen delivered American goods. Americans in general earned more than they could spend, so they began to massively invest in stocks of enterprises. For a US resident of those years, the normal question was “how much do you cost?”, that is, “how much money do you have?”, And in order to strengthen their own prestige, everyone wanted to become even richer. American banks already in the mid-1920s. turned out to be oversaturated with deposits, the export of capital begins; the purchase of enterprises, companies, land, as well as the issuance of loans was practiced.
Since 1921, Republicans have been in power in the United States, who did not interfere in the economic development of the country. President Coolidge was often quoted at the time as saying, "We should have less government in business and more business in government."
US Prosperity Issues
But there were also dark spots in the bright picture of “prosperity”: prosperity almost did not touch the agrarian West, farmers hard hit by the fall in prices for agricultural products.
Another big problem was corruption: five out of ten members of the government of President Harding took bribes, the situation on the ground would not be better. Corruption was largely associated with the adopted in October 1919 "dry law", which banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition in the 1920s constantly violated, along with tax evasion, it has become the "national sport" in the United States. The illegal production and smuggling of alcohol is the formation of organized crime in the United States, including the most famous gang of gangsters in Chicago led by Al Capone. material from the site
Throughout the 1920s. the mass buying up of the shares that were constantly growing in price continued. The one who bought the securities over time could sell them several times more expensive; banks did not provide such high incomes. scammers quickly realized that it was possible to organize "inflated" firms and issue shares that were not backed by anything.
The balance between production and consumption was also upset: the supply on the market of industrial goods exceeded the effective demand, shops willingly sold goods in credit. As a result, the average American lived surrounded by things for which he had yet to pay. All this threatened to turn around
When Americans acquired extra money and large families, they changed their ideas - not only about how to live, but also where to settle down. In 1940-1970 there was an outflow of the population from cities: only a third of Americans remained to live there. The percentage of the rural population also fell to about 30 percent. On the other hand, the number of those who preferred to settle on the outskirts of large cities has sharply increased: if earlier they made up only 20% of the population of America, now this figure has increased to 33%. Thus, the "boom" was observed in another area of life - in the development of the suburbs.
Between 1945 and 1960, real per capita income also rose by 25%. In the next two decades, this increase was 70%. Now three-fifths of all Americans could safely be classified as "middle class." By 1960, the number of homeowners already accounted for 60% of the total population (for comparison, before the war there were only 40% of such people). Car sales quadrupled between 1945 and 1955, and the number of purchased refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, electric ovens, and especially television sets also increased. Americans have become the richest nation in the world, boasting a record high standard of living. A quarter of a century after World War II, the United States has become a gigantic machine for the production and consumption of goods. The country, in which only 6% of the world's population lived, produced and used 66% of all goods produced in the world. No wonder the historian David M. Potter, in his book published in 1954, described the Americans as "a people of abundance."
The lives of workers changed as industrial America itself changed. Employment in the service sector prevailed over employment in industry. By 1956, the majority of those on the payroll were in the white-collar occupations of managers, teachers, salespeople, and clerks. Some firms guaranteed employees an annual salary, entered into long-term contracts with them, and provided other benefits. In this regard, the activity of the working class gradually decreased and some of its characteristic features began to disappear.
Agriculture was going through hard times. On the one hand, part of the farms were enlarged, increasing their productivity, and more and more large entrepreneurs appeared among the farmers. On the other hand, the situation of family farms was deteriorating, their competitiveness was declining, and the number of those who stopped working on the land was growing.
Americans moved from polluted cities to the outskirts, to the suburbs. There they hoped to get more spacious homes for their families, who grew up as a result of the post-war "boom" in the birth rate. According to the designs of William J. Levitt and other engineers and architects, blocks of standard houses were built, manufactured in an industrial way. These houses were mostly assembled at the factory. Modest inside and out, they cost less and allowed their new owners to realize at least part of the "American dream".
As the outskirts grew, business expanded into new areas. Large shopping centers with a huge range of goods have changed the style of consumption. If at the end of the war there were only 8 such centers, then in 1960 there were 3480. Being there at convenient evening hours and parking cars without problems, customers could no longer shop in ordinary city stores.
New freeways made it easier to get to the outskirts of the shopping centers. An act of Congress in 1956 allocated $26 billion for freeway construction, the largest public works spending figure in American history. More than 64,000 km of federal roads were to be built linking all parts of the country.
Television played an increasingly important role in the social and economic life of Americans. Appearing in the 1930s, it became widespread only after the war. In 1946, there were no more than 17,000 television sets in the United States, and three years later they were selling 250,000 units a month. By 1960, three-quarters of families owned at least one television set. In the mid-1950s, the average American family watched television for about 4-5 hours a day. Children's programs included Howdy Doody Time and The Mickey Mouse Club. Adults liked comedies like I Love Lucy and Daddy Knows Best. Americans of all ages watched increasingly sophisticated advertisements for products they were told were necessary for a normal life.
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| John Wayne |
Images of ideal women like Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Tylor and ideal men like Cary Grant, Clark Gable, John Wayne or Humphrey Boggart. Of course, along with these "deified" figures, the stars of the youth generation were growing, whose time will come in the next decade. This is Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean.
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| Elizabeth Taylor |
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| Grace Kelly |
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| Clark Gable |
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| Cary Grant |
