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Economic Instability During The Great Depression

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It is not a surprise that people today still undergo economic insecurity that leads to financial struggles. We have seen it happen before through the Great Depression, which was a major crisis that left many banks, markets, and people bankrupt. During this catastrophe in 1929, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pitched a set of New Deal programs in 1933. These policies revived and balanced out the economy through the Social Security Act of 1935, the National Youth Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Although the Great Depression put many people through financial instability, there had been many laws and programs, still being used today, that aided people through their hardships. Many of the folks that came across economic …show more content…

The policies included are known as the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and unemployment compensation. They provided as much as $18 a week to over 28 million people which was funded through the taxation of workers. Compensation to a beneficiary depended on their family’s financial level of income and the age in which they received the benefits. The Social Security Act also raised the earnings by 3.5 percent for workers who didn’t receive retirement benefits. As for people who received retirement benefits, their earnings equalled to the 3.5 percent raise minus the total amount they paid for retirement support during their lifetime. Furthermore, many U.S. workers paid for social security at the start of the 21st century. Over 48.5 million workers received financial benefits and requested to receive full retirement benefits by the age of 65. In 2007, 65-year-old retired workers received approximately $2,116 a month, disabled workers received $979 a month, each individual of an elderly couple received $1,713 a month, and single mothers with two children received $2,167 a month. According to James Ciment in “Encyclopedia of the Great …show more content…

Thus, an independent agency called the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was established in 1933. The F.D.I.C. revived financial institutions by ensuring the protection of bank deposits and controlled most of the U.S. banks. The corporation acted like finance companies because they had full authority over money being deposited and covered checking, savings, and money-market accounts. The F.D.I.C also paid depositors if a bank had failed or shutdown. This loan provided support to strong partnerships by preventing bankruptcy if banks were not granted enough services in the community. Moreover, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protected deposits to over 8,000 financial institutions and took control over 5,000 banks in 2008. In 2008, the corporation’s coverage limit was temporarily elevated to $250,000 under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and had later been degraded to $100,000 in 2010. According to Shaw, Christopher W. in “ “The Man in the Street Is for It”: The Road to the FDIC”: “ ‘Like money in the bank.’ This common expression reveals how confident Americans living today are that the money they deposit in the bank is secure. Earlier generations did not enjoy this. Banking panics were a recurrent feature of American life well into the twentieth century. And bank failures were regular occurrences. But the Federal Deposit Insurance

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