Fdr's Economic Crisis

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The Great Depression and the Great recession left the American people in such a severe economic situation that they government had to intervene in order to restore order to the economy and stabilize the American people. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president in 1933, he immediately began his program, the “New Deal”, in attempts to solve the national crisis that was the Great Depression. The Great Depression had left the American people in near despair as they could not afford to feed their families, find jobs, or get themselves back on their feet on their own. Three major problems of the crisis were unemployment, distrust in the banking system, and failures of companies to start up. Roosevelt’s first action as part of the New Deal …show more content…
It gave the citizens confidence that their money was safe in the banks and not being used towards speculation. Although this act was repealed, it was brought back in 2008 with a different bill. Another addition made during the New Deal was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which stated that if a bank fails, a person’s money will be safe up until a certain amount, which effectively put more confidence in the depositing money into banks. The Civilian Conservation Corps, created to combat unemployment, employed young men to plant trees and conserve nature in order to help the world around them and to prevent them from becoming “lost” and entering illegal matter. Finally, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided government money to the states for their own relief programs. Roosevelt’s “Second New Deal” introduced an important program to combat unemployment, called the Works Progress Administration, where the government employed people directly instead of companies hiring them in order to provide more jobs for more …show more content…
In attempt to deal with the economic crisis, the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rates to a record low rate of 0% in attempt to encourage Americans to borrow and engage in capital investment once again. In 2008, President George W. Bush signed Congresses the Economic Stimulus Act (Great Recession- Stimulus Package, History.com). This act began large temporary tax cuts on houses to help bring the economy out of the recession and increased the loan limits for federal home loans. Bush also created the Stimulus Package which helped lean businesses towards capital investments. Despite all the government's attempts at savior, banks and companies continued to declare bankruptcy. Six months after the Economic Stimulus Act was passed, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was put into place by the U.S government. This gave the government around $700 billion in funds to buy off parts of companies who were struggling in order to keep them running and from declaring bankruptcy. Finally, in 2009 when Barack Obama became president, he passed a second Stimulus Package which gave $787 billion in tax cuts, funds for schools, health care, and green energy. By the end of 2009 and 2010, the GDP and industrial productions continued to grow, bringing the crisis to an end (When Did it End, Economist.com). Both economic