The answer upstairs is very good. Maybe professionals will admire it when they see it, but it seems that the little sister who asked the question is a junior high school student, right? I'm not afraid to make others tired.
October 24th, 1929 was called "Black Thursday" in American history. Before that, in the summer of 1929, the United States was still in a state of peace and dance. In the three months in the summer, the shares of General Motors rose from 268 to 391, and the shares of American steel companies rose from 165 to 258. When people met, they talked about nothing but stocks. Until September, the US Treasury Secretary vowed to assure the public: "This prosperous scene will continue." However, on October 24th, the financial sector in the United States collapsed, and the stock fell from the top to the abyss overnight. The price fell so fast that even the automatic monitor of stock market couldn't keep up with it. The collapse of the stock market led to the Great Depression that lasted for four years. Since then, the American economy has fallen into the mire of economic crisis, and the booming American society has been gradually replaced by the bleak scene of accumulated stocks, unemployed workers and closed shops. 86, enterprises went bankrupt, 5,5 banks closed down, the national financial community was suffocated, and the hard savings of millions of Americans for many years were wasted. GNP dropped sharply from $14.4 billion when the crisis broke out to $74.2 billion in 1933, and the number of unemployed people soared from less than 1.5 million to more than 17 million, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire labor force. The overall economic level declined to 1913. The value of agricultural products has fallen to the lowest point. In order to ensure the price, farmers pour milk into the sea and burn grain and cotton in public. At the same time, people can't get the most basic guarantee of survival.
In this case, franklin roosevelt replaced Hoover, who was in trouble, and was elected as the 32nd president of the United States. In view of the reality at that time and in line with the will of the broad masses of the people, he implemented a series of policies and measures aimed at overcoming the crisis, which was called the "New Deal" in history. The main contents of the New Deal can be summarized by "Three Rs", namely, Recover, Relief and Reform. Because the Great Depression was triggered by the financial crisis caused by crazy speculation. President Roosevelt's New Deal also started with rectifying finance. Among the 15 important pieces of legislation enacted during the period known as the "1-day New Deal" (from March 9 to June 16, 1933), laws related to finance accounted for one third. When Roosevelt was sworn in as president on March 4, 1933, almost no bank in the country was open, and checks could not be cashed in Washington. At Roosevelt's request, on March 9, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, and decided to adopt a system of individual examination and licensing for banks, and allow banks with solvency to resume business as soon as possible. From March 13th to 15th, 14,771 banks have been licensed to reopen, compared with 25,568 before the crisis in 1929, 1,797 banks have been eliminated. The extraordinary measures taken by Roosevelt to rectify finance have played a great role in cleaning up the mess and stabilizing people's hearts. According to public opinion, this action is like "a flash of lightning in a dark sky". While reorganizing the banks, Roosevelt also took actions to strengthen the foreign economic position of the United States. From March 1th, 1933, when the export of gold was stopped, major measures were taken one after another: On April 5th, it was announced that private storage of gold and gold securities was prohibited, and the exchange of US dollar bills for gold was stopped; On April 19, the export of gold was banned and the gold standard was abandoned; On June 5, public and private debts were abolished and paid in gold; On January 1th, 1934, it was announced that it would issue $3 billion paper money guaranteed by national securities, and devalued the dollar by 4.94%. Through the depreciation of the dollar, the competitiveness of American goods abroad has been strengthened. These measures have played an important role in stabilizing the situation and dredging the blood circulation of economic life.
during the "1-day new deal", while solving the banking problem, Roosevelt tried his best to urge the parliament to pass the agricultural adjustment law and the national industrial revival law, which became the right-hand man of the whole new deal. Roosevelt asked capitalists to abide by the rules of "fair competition" and set the scale, price and sales scope of each enterprise; The minimum wage and maximum working hours are set for workers, thus limiting monopoly and reducing and easing the tense class contradictions. After receiving the reluctant support of large enterprises, Roosevelt then tried his best to win the support of small and medium-sized business owners. He said that it is important for large enterprises to accept the industrial revival law, "and the fruitful areas still lie in small employers, whose contribution will be to provide new employment opportunities for 1 to 1 people." These small employers are actually an extremely important part of the backbone of the country, and the success or failure of our plan depends to a large extent on them. " The development of small and medium-sized enterprises has played a positive role in the social stability and economic recovery of the United States.
Another important content of the New Deal is relief work. In May 1933, Congress passed the Federal Emergency Relief Law, established the Federal Emergency Relief Agency, and quickly allocated all kinds of relief funds and materials to the states. In the following year, it changed simple relief to "work for relief", providing the unemployed with opportunities to engage in public undertakings and safeguarding their self-reliance and self-esteem. In the early days of Roosevelt's administration, more than 17 million unemployed people and their relatives depended on the help and charity of the state government, the municipal government and private charities to make a living. However, compared with such a huge army of unemployed people, this part of the financial resources is tantamount to a drop in the bucket. Only the federal government can solve this complicated social problem. The first measure of Roosevelt's New Deal was to urge Congress to pass the plan of private resource protection team. The plan specially recruited young people aged 18 to 25 who were strong and had high unemployment rate, engaged in tree planting and forest protection, flood prevention and control, soil and water conservation, road construction, opening up forest fire lines and setting up forest watchtowers. The first batch recruited 25, people to work in 1,5 camps all over the state. Before going to the United States to fight in the war, more than 2 million young people worked in this institution, and they opened up more than 7.4 million acres of state-owned forest areas and a large number of state-owned parks. On average, each person works for 9 months, and most of the monthly salary is used as family support, thus expanding the relief area and corresponding purchasing power in the whole society. For people in Qian Qian who absolutely depend on states and cities to feed, Roosevelt also urged Congress to pass the federal emergency relief law, set up a federal relief agency, rationally divide the proportion of use between the federal government and the states, and formulate preferential policies to encourage local governments to directly help the poor and the unemployed. During the New Deal, there were various relief agencies in the United States, which can be divided into two systems: the public works department (the government allocated more than 4 billion dollars) and the civil works department (the investment was nearly 1 billion dollars), and the latter built 18, small-scale projects nationwide, including school buildings, bridges, dikes, sewage systems, post offices and administrative organs. Later, several new relief organizations were established. Among them, the most famous ones are the Project Establishment Agency set up by the National Congress with a grant of 5 billion dollars and the National Youth Administration, which specifically targets young people. Together, they employ 23 million people, accounting for more than half of the national labor force. By the eve of World War II, the federal government had spent $18 billion on various projects and a small amount of direct relief expenses. The US government had built nearly 1, airports, more than 12, sports grounds and more than 8 school buildings and hospitals, which not only created employment opportunities for craftsmen, unskilled workers and the construction industry, but also provided various jobs for thousands of unemployed artists. It was the most ambitious and successful relief plan undertaken by the US government so far. This sum of money passed through the pockets of workers, through different channels and consumption, and returned to the hands of capitalists, becoming the "priming water" to stimulate private consumption and personal investment with government investment.
The second "New Deal" from 1935, on the basis of the first stage, focused on the adoption of social insurance bill, national labor relations bill, public utilities bill and other laws and regulations to consolidate the achievements of the New Deal in the form of legislation. Roosevelt believed that if a government "can't take care of the elderly and patients, can't provide jobs for the strong, can't inject young people into the industrial system, and let the shadow of insecurity hang over every family, it is not a government that can exist or should exist", and social insurance should be responsible for the whole life from cradle to grave. To this end, the Social Insurance Law was enacted. According to the law, all wage workers who retire at the age of 65 can get a monthly pension of 1 to 85 dollars according to different wage levels. Regarding unemployment insurance, Roosevelt explained: "It will not only help individuals avoid relying on relief when they are dismissed in the future, but also alleviate the impact of economic difficulties by maintaining purchasing power." The source of the insurance premium is that half of the insurance premium is paid by the working workers and employers, which is equivalent to 1% of the workers' wages, and the other half is allocated by the federal government. This social insurance law reflects the strong desire of the broad masses of working people and is welcomed and praised by the vast majority of Americans.
on may 24, 1937, Roosevelt submitted a widely noticed address to congress on the legislation of minimum wage and maximum working hours. The address acknowledged that "one third of China's population, most of whom are engaged in agriculture or industry, can't eat well, dress well and live well". "We must bear in mind that our goal is to improve, not reduce, the living standards of those who are now malnourished, poorly dressed and living in terrible conditions. We know that when a large part of our workers are not employed, overtime work and low-level wages cannot raise national income. " Congress did not take action on the bill. On October 12, 1937, Roosevelt proposed it again until June 14, 1938. This is the "fair labor standards act" (also known as the "Wage and Working Hours Law"). Its main provisions include 4 hours of working hours per week and a minimum wage of 4 cents per hour; It is forbidden to use children under the age of 16 and workers under the age of 18 in dangerous industries. With the development of economy, the regulations on the minimum wage have been adjusted in the future. Although these social legislations belong to the category of social improvement, they are very beneficial to the broad masses of people, especially wage earners. In order to solve the problem of federal funding for social insurance system, Roosevelt implemented a progressive tax based on income and assets for the first time. 31% will be levied on the net income of $5, and the inheritance of $4,, and 75% will be levied on the inheritance of more than $5 million; The corporate tax used to be 13.75%. According to the 1935 tax law, the tax rate for companies with income below $5, was reduced to 12.5%, and for those with income above $5,, it was increased to 15%.
By 1939, President Roosevelt's New Deal was a great success. The New Deal involves almost all aspects of American social and economic life, most of which are specific considerations for the United States to get rid of the crisis and minimize the consequences of the crisis, and some are long-term planning based on the long-term development goals of capitalism. Its direct effect is to prevent the United States from economic collapse and help the United States get out of the crisis. Since 1935, almost all economic indicators in the United States have steadily rebounded. The gross national product has increased from $74.2 billion in 1933 to $24.9 billion in 1939, and the number of unemployed people has dropped from 17 million to 8 million. This has restored people's confidence in the national system, shaken off the threat of fascism to the democratic system, and prevented the United States from experiencing fierce social unrest in the crisis, creating a favorable environment and conditions for the United States to participate in the anti-fascist war later.
On October 24th, 1929, the biggest economic crisis in the history of capitalism broke out in the United States. Within a week, Americans lost $1 billion in wealth in the stock exchange, and farmers poured milk into the Mississippi River to destroy the "surplus" products. At that time, a children's song was popular in new york:
"Mellon sounded the whistle and Hoover rang the bell. Wall Street sends a signal that the United States is rushing to hell! "
"Crazy 2s" hidden crisis
In p>192, the first economic crisis after World War I broke out in the capitalist world. After the crisis, the American economy grew rapidly under the influence of "economic bubbles" such as stocks and bonds, creating a miracle in the history of capitalist economy. From 1923 to the autumn of 1929, the annual productivity increased by 4%. At the same time, the values of the whole American society are changing. Although the traditional values of Puritans are still popular in rural areas, the dominant moral values in cities have undergone tremendous changes. Getting rich has become people's biggest dream, speculation is favored, organized crime and pleasure are prevalent. A considerable number of people indulge in material pleasures all day long, while their spiritual life is impetuous and vulgar, so that many American historians call the United States at this time the spiritual "hunger era" or "crazy 192s".
although the prosperity in the 192s created a golden age for the development of capitalism, the prosperity itself was fraught with profound contradictions and crises. First of all, American agriculture has been in a state of recession for a long time, and rural purchasing power is insufficient. In 1919, farmers' income accounted for 16% of the total national income, but in 1929 it only accounted for 8.8% of the total national income, and farmers went bankrupt one after another. At this time, the per capita income of farmers is only about one third of the national average income.
Secondly, the industrial growth and the redistribution of social wealth in the United States are extremely uneven. Industrial growth is mainly concentrated in some emerging industrial sectors, while the old industrial sectors such as mining and shipbuilding are all underemployed, and the textile and leather industries have also experienced a crisis of production reduction, resulting in a large number of workers losing their jobs. During this period, the wind of merger prevailed, and social wealth was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people. The 16 largest chaebol in the United States control 53% of the country's gross national product, and one-third of the country's national income is occupied by the richest people who account for 5% of the population; On the other hand, the living standard of about 6% American families is still struggling at the level of $2, a year, which is only enough for food and clothing. More seriously, 21% families earn less than $1, a year. In addition, the potential crisis in the balance of payments has also deepened the potential crisis in the US economy. The growing economic power and supply in the United States greatly exceed the demand at home and abroad that can pay. All this indicates the coming of a great crisis.
in p>192, Wilson, president of the Democratic Party, left office. After Wilson, the three presidents and the party presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover were in power successively. There is America.