ABriefEconomicHistoryoftheUnitedStates.pptVIP

Chapter 1 A Brief Economic History of the United States The National Railroad Network The completion of the transcontinental railroads 1850 The United States had 10,000 miles of track 1890 The United States had 164,000 miles of track This made possible mass production, mass marketing, and mass consumption, which brought the country together into a huge social and economic unit This made it possible to go almost anywhere in the U.S. by train except in the south (i.e., transcontinental lines by-passed the south This severely retarded its economic development well into the 20th century The Age of the Industrial Capitalist The last quarter of the 19th century was the age of the industrial capitalist Carnegie (steel) Du Pont (chemicals) McCormick (farm equipment) Rockefeller (oil) Swift (meat packing) Industrial Development By the turn of the 20th century America was primarily an industrial economy Fewer than 4 of 10 people lived on farms The U.S. was among the world leaders in production of steel, coal, steamships, textiles, apparel, chemicals, and agricultural machinery The Great Depression Started with the August 1929 recession Had the stock market not crashed and had the federal government acted more quickly, this could have been a fairly short recession The economy hit bottom in March, 1933 National output was one third what it was in 1929 Official unemployment was 25 percent 16 million Americans were out of work The population was less than ? its present size The Recession of 1937-38 A lot of credit goes to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” administration for the 1933 – 1937 expansion Banks were reopened The Government confiscated America’s gold The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) came into being The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) was set up An unemployment insurance benefit program was started The Social Security System was started This was the most significant reform What Went Wrong? The Federal Reserve greatly tightened credit Thi