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THE ROARING TWENTIES: a time of real prosperity? - Coggle Diagram
THE ROARING TWENTIES: a time of real prosperity?
THE ECONOMIC BOOM: A JAZZ TALE OF OPULENCE
Between the years 1921 and 1929, Americans had the opportunity to enjoy an economic prosperity
Calvin Coolidge took the power in 1923, the nation was in peace and the society had clarify that they wanted to stay away from international affairs.
He favoured a balanced federal budget, lower federal spending, lower taxes, and high tariffs on foreign-made goods.
He created a pro-business climate, it consisted in that the government should leave business alone and rely on the market-place to create prosperity.
Economic statistics meant that the purchasing power of Americans rose steadily. And the industry that epitomised the boom was the motor car industry.
Under Coolidge, the nation experienced rapid economic growth.
What were the reasons for the economic boom of the 1920s?
The size and the economic wealth of the USA.
The population was large and had considerable purchasing power.
US manufacturers had a large domestic market in which to sell their goods.
The US also had a very effective internal transportation system.
Transcontinental railroads were supplemented by the development of a road system in the early 20th century
The entrepreneurial spirit and the American Dream.
Self-made millionaires such as A. Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller made the American Dream work.
If you worked hard enough, you could be prosperous
This idea led millions to go the Atlantic to search for wealth.
Immigrant population provided hard-working & cheap labour that made industrialisation a success
The impact of WWI
UK & Germany virtually bankrupted themselves fighting in the war.
But the US benefited from the war in other ways
The demand for armaments stimulated the growth of the American industry.
The US emerged from the war as the world’s major industrial power.
Technological progress & “Fordism”
The centre for the 2nd industrial revolution was Detroit.
1st, he took the work to the man rather than taking the man to the work.
It was here that Henry Ford revolutionised car manufacture by introducing new industrial methods which led to their mass production.
2nd, Ford concentrated production on one car type until the mid-1920s, the Model “T”.
New management and selling techniques
Taylor spread the idea that all aspects of the manufacturing process should be analysed scientifically
And that an efficient system should be adopted which would get the greatest level of productivity out of workers
The 1920s was also the decade that saw the rapid growth of advertising and marketing.
These were aided at the same time by the technological developments of the radio, the motor car & the cinema.
Government policies.
The Republican Party was associated with laissez-faire economics by the 1920s.
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The tax-cutting policies. Inspite of tax cuts, the rapid growth in business meant that the Treasury had a surplus in the budget for the 20s.
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Easy credit and hire purchase
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THE ECONOMIC DOWNFALL: A JAZZ TALE OF MISERY
the tittle can be misleading by implying that all American society shared equitably in a sustained prosperity.
Industrial production in the 1920s increased so dramatically that it is known as the era of the 2nd industrial revolution.
industrial wages, salaries, profits, and dividends rise substantially, but consumer credit and the consumption level of the average American family also soared to unprecedented heights.
only bussinessmen qere benefited while most of america remained economilacy depressed
there was a widening gap between the rich and the poor, middle-class Americans and the rest who made up over 50% of the population. The alleged prosperity of the 1920s did not reach nationwide and to all groups.
who missed out the prosperity of the 1920s
african-americans
They led a poverty-stricken existence, mainly as sharecroppers. They occupied the lowest economic position in a relatively poor region of the country.
segregation: as result, poor education reinforced the poor social and economic position of African-Americans
were forced to do menial labour for very poor wages, decent jobs went to the white population
farmers
for many farmers, the decade was marked by poverty, hardship, and an endless struggle against debt.
over-production was exacerbated by the sudden fall in demand after 1929
urban demand for farm products rested on the ability of the urban workers to purchase food, and weren´t able
made farm produce be sold at prices well below the actual cost of production
rural activism
The War Finance Corporation, The Packers Stockyard Act, or The Emergency Tariff Act (1921), The Farm Co-operatives Act (1922), The Intermediate Farm Credit Act (1923), and The McFadden Banking Act (1927).
women
Although there was an increase in the number of jobs
was little to no improvement in terms of the quality of their employment opportunities or in their pay
women played a role as supplementary wage-earners, Households which relied on the woman’s wage only endured permanent poverty.
women remained in poorly paid, low- status, menial occupations.
With the exception of teaching and nursing, women were still msotly absent from the most common professions.
trade unioninsts
Union membership had grown during World War I, but it then declined during the 1920s.
The Red Scare of 1919 and the Palmer Raids of the 1920s led many workers to avoid joining unions.
the US Supreme Court passed several anti-union judgements making it difficult both for unions to strike and for the creation of a minimum wage
native indian americans
19th century had seen them systematically stripped of their land, their culture, and their rights
Indians endured truly miserable conditions in squalid reservations
reflected in high rates of alcoholism and crime, low life expectancy, and high infant mortality
What was done to help the poor
not much
, the agrarian and reforming lobby of both parties in Congress combined in an effort to relieve the suffering of the farmers.
government action only aggravated the situation
The failure of the federal government to help farmers out of poverty deepened the divisions between the rural and urban areas of the country
laissez-faire politics prevented any government intervention to help industrial workers on inadequately low wages
Some states established departments of public or social welfare and increased their spending on welfare to the benefit of the elderly and young mothers.
the help was limited
WHY?
the values and attitudes of American society in the 1920s
Republican administrations believed :
social responsibility was not the job of the state except in the fields of law and order and national defence.
How had this come about to be possible
high profits created by gains in productivity had been paid out to investors whilst the workers received comparatively small wage increases
The policy of rugged individualism
little or no welfare support for the poor and a laissez-faire approach to such issues as safety at work
large sections of the population borrowed far in excess of what they could realistically afford
80% of Americans had no savings at all at this time