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How Did The New Deal Lead Up To The Great Depression

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In October of 1929, the stock market crashed. Many people consider this to be the start of one of the hardest times in American history, the Great Depression. While the United States had survived through hardships before, this was something it had never seen. A compilation of a horrendous drought with the failing of the stock market left the country in disarray. Unemployment reached new heights and the American people were at a loss. Things looked up when presidential elections arrived in 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt, or, “FDR”, came to the forefront as he promised a plan that would pull the country out of its depression. This plan is known as the New Deal and it promised relief and recovery to the United States. However, FDR’s New Deal …show more content…

The US census Bureau states that “the official unemployment rate was still 17.2 percent in 1939 despite seven years of ‘economic salvation at the hands of the Roosevelt administration.” (DiLorenzo, par.5). While the New Deal was set to relieve unemployment, after 7 years of the various programs, little was changed for the better and the depression continued. Some of these programs included FDR’s labor policies. The NIRA, also known as the National Industrial Recovery Act, set a minimum wages for workers of various skills as well as stated that employers must bargain collectively with unions. These policies made labor more expensive and more difficult to supply. The result of these policies is less employment due to the added difficulty of employing many …show more content…

In order for the programs to be financed, federal taxes almost tripled. The taxes that increased included excise taxes, personal income taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income taxes, and “excess profits” taxes. Excise taxes include taxes on gum, candy, cars, tires, electricity, radios, matches, and other every day commodities. (Powell). According to a Treasury Department report “excise taxes ‘often fell disproportionately on the less affluent.” (Powell, par.4). This means that the taxes to support the new deal programs fell on middle and lower class citizens that were already struggling in the depression. These taxes made living more expensive in the

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