The phrase “history repeats itself” is typically referenced with a negative connotation; but why can’t the positive decisions made in history also be repeated? If the bad repeats, why not the good? In the 1930s, when President Franklin Roosevelt took office after the Depression, he began instituting new programs under the name of the “New Deal”. These programs, nicknamed “Alphabet Soup” helped create jobs, expand the American economy and pull the country out of the despair into which it had fallen. Again, this country has fallen into despair. Many Americans find themselves without a job, without a home and struggling to even live. Unemployment rates are skyrocketing, as high as 15% in some states, foreclosure rates continue to rise everyday as the more than 40 million Americans living in poverty (McCormally) cannot pay the mortgage on their houses. Once again, the United States is in a depression and we need to get out of it, and fast. To solve this foreclosure crisis, or at least lead the way to a better tomorrow, a renewed “New Deal” needs to be put in place. The biggest problem helping cause the foreclosure crisis is that people do not have the money to pay the mortgage every month. As a society, we have moved away from the days of paying with money we actually have to paying with a shiny plastic card that really has no significant value. This reliance on credit cards has sent us into a downhill spiral, especially when unemployment is skyrocketing. When a house goes into foreclosure, no one wins. The family living in that house now has no home and the bank who loaned the family the money now will not see that money ever again. To solve this crisis, money is needed. Just giving the money away does not solve the problem; people...
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...r high-paced society, learned skills can be used, money management skills taught and more jobs can be created. From these, money will be earned. This money will be divided between going to the worker as it does now, and going to the mortgage company to help to avoid foreclosure. With this “New, New Deal” the foreclosure crisis the United States is in right now can be stopped and reversed. It is true that history repeats itself, so let us learn from our past to protect our future.
Works Cited
McCormally, Kevin. "How Your Income Stacks Up." Yahoo! Finance. 23 Dec 2009. Kiplinger.com, Web. 31 Dec 2009. .
"New Deal." Spiritus-Temporis. 2005. Spiritus Temporis, Web. 31 Dec 2009. .
The Great Depression tested America’s political organizations like no other event in United States’ history except the Civil War. The most famous explanations of the period are friendly to Roosevelt and the New Deal and very critical of the Republican presidents of the 1920’s, bankers, and businessmen, whom they blame for the collapse. However, Amity Shlaes in her book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, contests the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism failed, and that it ended because of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Shlaes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a syndicated financial columnist, argues that government action between 1929 and 1940 unnecessarily deepened and extended the Great Depression.
Trello, Julia. "Income Inequality: Views & Solutions From Experts" Finances Online Income Inequality Views Solutions From Experts Comments. Finances Online, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once asserted “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” in belief for a change, for a better nation, and for guidance to those who have lost all faith in humanity. During the Great Depression, The United States faced many different scenarios in which it caused people to doubt and question the “American Dream.” The Great depression began in 1929 and ended in 1939. In these ten years, people went through unemployment, poverty, banks failed and people lost hope. President Herbert Hoover thought it wasn’t his responsibility to try and fix such issues in the nation. He felt it was just something that everyone was facing and it will be over soon enough. However, years passed and nothing seemed to
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
Knowing the past history of banking issues and foreclosures, along with what has and hasn’t worked in the past is the only way to find an answer to the current foreclosure problem at hand. In the past finding and or making jobs for the unemployed helped revive the national economy, and lessened the number of foreclosures, because people could pay small increments to the banks. Fixing the job market by finding more jobs is the only way to truly get the nation back on its feet and fix the current foreclosure problem.
The last quarter twelve percent (12%) of American homes are in default of their loan, or in foreclosure. Add that to the previous four quarters and that is eight point seven (8.7) million homes in crisis. (Further on known as HIC's) The United States “Bail Out” helped major mortgage corporations, and their chief executive officers (CEO's), but not the families that are in, or were in these HIC's across America.
Priest Coughlin, once said “Roosevelt or ruin” but at the end he understood it was “Roosevelt and ruin”. After the Stock Market Crash on October 29, 1929, a period of unemployment, panic, and a very low economy; struck the U.S. Also known as The Great Depression. But in 1933, by just being given presidency, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) would try to stop this devastation with a program, that he named New Deal, design to fix this issue so called The Great Depression.Unfortunately this new program wasn’t successful because FDR didn’t understand the causes of the Great Depression, it made the government had way too much power over their economy and industry, it focused mostly on direct relief and it didn’t help the minorities.
Scarborough, Joe. “Top 1% Took 95% of Gains Since 2009.” Tampa Bay Times. January 21, 2014. Web. March 11, 2014. In this article the authors shows how income inequality has been changing over the time. He also tries to emphasize how large this gap has become by comparing income and taxation of the top 1% with the rest of the nation.
The Great Depression was one of the greatest challenges that the United States faced during the twentieth century. It sidelined not only the economy of America, but also that of the entire world. The Depression was unlike anything that had been seen before. It was more prolonged and influential than any economic downturn in the history of the United States. The Depression struck fear in the government and the American people because it was so different. Calvin Coolidge even said, "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." People were scared and did not know what to do to address the looming economic crash. As a result of the Depression’s seriousness and severity, it took unconventional methods to fix the economy and get it going again. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration had to think outside the box to fix the economy. The administration changed the role of the government in the lives of the people, the economy, and the world. As a result of the abnormal nature of the Depression, the FDR administration had to experiment with different programs and approaches to the issue, as stated by William Lloyd Garrison when he describes the new deal as both assisting and slowing the recovery. Some of the programs, such as the FDIC and works programs, were successful; however, others like the NIRA did little to address the economic issue. Additionally, the FDR administration also created a role for the federal government in the everyday lives of the American people by providing jobs through the works program and establishing the precedent of Social Security...
In short, despite other uncontrollable factors, US government could have done a better job of preventing the Great Depression from happening. The depression was not inevitable in some sense. And the effects of the New Deal is questionable. The purpose of studying the past is to learn from the mistakes and move on. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. -----George Bernard Shaw h
But economically, Roosevelt and his “brains trust” had no idea what they were doing. They attempted one failed intervention after another. The Great Depression was a disaster, and sadly an avoidable one.” (Edwards, 2005)
Desilver, Drew. “U.S. Income Inequality, On The Rise…” Pew Research Center. 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
The United States faced the worst economic downfall in history during the Great Depression. A domino effect devastated every aspect of the economy, unemployment rate was at an all time high, banks were declaring bankruptcy and the frustration of the general public led to the highest suicide rates America has ever encountered. In the 1930’s Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the New Deal reforms, which aimed to “reconcile democracy, individual liberty and economic planning” (Liberty 863). The New Deal reforms were effective in the short term but faced criticism as it transformed the role of government and shaped the lives of American citizens.
Zavadszky, Andrea. "New Accounting Needs Data and Analysis Skills." Classified Post. N.p., 30 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. .
As corny as this sounds, history really does have a way of repeating itself. It’s up to the people like us, the future leaders of the country to decide if the good things or the bad things are the ones that will repeat themselves. Events that lead to the stock market crash, which lead to the great depression are being avoided, things that lead countries to war are being dealt with today in a different manner because no one wants another world war, Democracy, the longest standing form of government in the United States, is being spread around the world to avoid such conflicts that occurred with dictatorships in the past, and the newest problem, terrorism, that is occurring in today’s world, will be and is being looked at.