New Deal Essay Outline

Thesis : The Roosevelt Administration looked to bring about the recovery of the US economy by creating a number of big government programs aimed at improving the economic and social welfare of the US, and to an extent this was successful, but did not fix the major underlying issues that faced the nation and did not end the Depression.

Problems-
- Industries fail
o Causes mass layoffs
 Causes high unemployment
- unemployment, along with irresponsible lending by banks, led to the inability of many to pay back loans
o causes many banks to run out of money, not able to give people their money
 people stop depositing in banks and lose all faith in the system
- after WWI farmers began overproducing crops
o large supply and lower demand causes price of farm goods to drop significantly
o many farmers go out of business
- Speculation on the stock market causes market to crash
o Many lose huge sums of money due to stock market crash

Measures Taken-
- major legislation passed aimed at fixing problems causing the depression
- emergency banking act-
o passed 1st day in office
o closed down all banks so they could be examined by federal government for economic stability
o banks deemed able to survive economically (sometimes with help by the federal government by the means of loans) were allowed to reopen, those deemed unstable closed
- Securities exchange commission-
o Aimed to fix problems on wall street
o Placed many government regulations on the stock market, such as not allowing speculation
- Agricultural Adjustment Administration-
o Aimed at fixing the problems in the agricultural sector of the economy
o Gave incentives to farmers who killed off extra live stock and crops in order to even out supply and demand
- National Recovery Act-
o Aimed at regulating socio-economic trends
o Regulated prices for many products and limited the freedom of the market in order to ensure fair trade
- Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation-
o Aimed at further restoring US confidence in the banking system
o Guaranteed those who deposited into banks $X if the bank failed

Effects-
- Emergency banking act
o Restored faith in the banking system
o Saved many banks that were on the brink of failure
o Caused those who deposited into the banks deemed unable to survive to lose their money, with no refund
- Securities Exchange Commission
o Prevented people from taking advantage of the stock market, which caused the ’29 crash
- Agricultural Adjustment Administration
o Stabilized the market for goods from the farms
o Wasted food that could be used to help those suffering from hunger
o Widely considered immoral
- National recovery act
o Highly criticized because of limitations on free market
o Hurt business
o Eventually deemed unconstitutional
- Federal deposit insurance cooperation
o Provided an insurance policy to those who deposited in banks
o Restored faith in banks
Judgment
- Successful in…
o Restoring confidence in banks
o Stabilizing farming sector
o Highly improving stock marker fairness
o Creating jobs
o Somewhat lowering unemployment
- Failed in…
o Ending recession
o Bringing country together
o Being uncontroversial (many said was unconstitutional, communism, took advantage of tax payers, too confusing)
o Simplicity (accused of having too many rules and regulations)
o Fairness (stocking the supreme court)
- overall judgment
o successful in fixing minor problems and restoring confidence in banking system… but did not accomplish final goal of ending great depression because of radicalness and copiousness of rules, regulations, and government programs