1929101October 24th was called "Black Thursday" in American history. Before that, in the summer of 1929, the United States was still in a state of crowing. In the three months of summer, the stock of General Motors rose from 268 to 39 1, and the stock of American Steel Company rose from 165 to 258. Everyone met and talked about nothing but stocks. Until September, the U.S. Treasury Secretary vowed to assure the public: However, on June 24, 65438/kloc-0, the U.S. financial sector crashed, and stocks fell from the peak to the abyss overnight. The price fell so fast that it couldn't keep up with the automatic display of the stock market. The collapse of the stock market led to the Great Depression which lasted for four years. Since then, the American economy has fallen into the quagmire of economic crisis, and the thriving American society has gradually been replaced by the bleak scene of inventory accumulation, unemployment of workers and closing of shops. 86,000 enterprises went bankrupt, 5,500 banks closed down, and the national financial community was suffocated. The money that millions of Americans have worked so hard to save over the years has been wasted. GNP dropped sharply from $654.38+00.44 billion when the crisis broke out to $74.2 billion in 654.38+0933, and the number of unemployed people soared from less than 654.38+05 million to more than 654.38+07 million, accounting for all. The value of agricultural products has fallen to the lowest point. In order to ensure the price, farmers pour milk into the sea and burn grain and cotton in public. At the same time, people's most basic survival is not guaranteed.
In this case, franklin roosevelt replaced the embattled Hoover and was elected as the 32nd President of the United States. In view of the reality at that time and in line with the wishes of the broad masses of people, he implemented a series of policies and measures aimed at overcoming the crisis, which was called the "New Deal" in history. The main contents of the New Deal can be summarized by "three Rs", namely, restoration, relief and reform. Because the Great Depression was triggered by a financial crisis triggered by crazy speculation. President Roosevelt's New Deal also began with the consolidation of finance. Among the 15 important pieces of legislation made during the period known as the "100-day New Deal" (1March 9, 933 to1June), financial-related laws accounted for 1/3. 1when Roosevelt was sworn in as president on March 4, 933, almost no banks in the country were open for business, and checks could not be cashed in Washington. At Roosevelt's request, on March 9, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, and decided to adopt a system of individual examination and licensing for banks, allowing solvent banks to resume business as soon as possible. From March of 13 to March of 15, 1477 1 banks were allowed to reopen, compared with 25,568 before the crisis of 1929, and 10797 banks were eliminated. Roosevelt's extraordinary measures to rectify finance played a great role in cleaning up the mess and stabilizing people's hearts. Public opinion believes that this action is like "a flash of lightning in the dark sky." While reorganizing banks, Roosevelt also took actions to strengthen the foreign economic position of the United States. 1933 since March 10 announced the cessation of gold export, major measures have been taken one after another: on April 5, it was announced that private storage of gold and gold securities was prohibited, and US dollar bills stopped being exchanged for gold; /kloc-In April of 0/9, the export of gold was banned and the gold standard was abandoned; On June 5, the public and private debts were abolished and paid in gold; 1934 65438+1October 10, announcing the issuance of US$ 3 billion banknotes guaranteed by state securities, with the US dollar depreciating by 40.94%. Through the depreciation of the dollar, the competitiveness of American goods abroad has been strengthened. These measures have played an important role in stabilizing the situation and dredging the blood circulation of economic life.
During the "100-day New Deal", while solving the banking problem, Roosevelt tried his best to urge the parliament to pass the agricultural adjustment law and the national industrial revival law successively, becoming the right-hand man of the whole New Deal. Roosevelt asked capitalists to abide by the rules of "fair competition" and stipulate the scale, price and sales scope of each enterprise; Set minimum wages and maximum working hours for workers, so as to limit monopoly and reduce and ease tense class contradictions. After receiving the reluctant support of large enterprises, Roosevelt then tried his best to win the support of small and medium-sized business owners. He said that it is very important for large enterprises to accept the industrial revival law. "The fruitful field still lies in small employers, and their contribution will be to provide new employment opportunities for 1 to 10 people." These small employers are actually an extremely important part of the backbone of the country, and the success or failure of our plan depends largely on them. "The development of small and medium-sized enterprises has played a positive role in social stability and economic recovery in the United States.
Another important content of the New Deal is relief work. 1933 in may, congress passed the federal emergency relief law, established the federal emergency relief agency, and quickly allocated various relief funds and materials to the States. The following year, the simple relief was changed to "work for relief", which provided the unemployed with opportunities to engage in public utilities and safeguarded their self-reliance and self-esteem. In the early days of Roosevelt's administration, more than170,000 unemployed people and their relatives in China depended on the help and charity of the state government, the municipal government and private charities to make a living. However, compared with such a huge army of unemployed people, this part of the financial resources is tantamount to a drop in the bucket. Only the federal government can solve this complex social problem. The first measure of Roosevelt's New Deal was to urge Congress to pass the plan of the private resource protection group. The plan specifically recruits/kloc-young people aged 0/8 to 25 who are physically strong and have high unemployment rate, and are engaged in tree planting and forest protection, flood control, soil and water conservation, road construction, opening forest fire prevention routes, and setting up forest watchtowers. The first batch recruited 250,000 people to work in Quanzhou 1500 camp. Before going to the United States to fight in the war, more than 2 million young people worked in this institution, and they opened up more than 7.4 million acres of state-owned forest areas and a large number of state-owned parks. On average, everyone works for 9 months, and most of the monthly salary is used as family support, thus expanding the relief area and corresponding purchasing power of the whole society. For those people in Qian Qian who absolutely depend on cities to support themselves, Roosevelt also urged Congress to pass the federal emergency relief law, set up federal relief agencies, rationally divide the use ratio between the federal government and the states, formulate preferential policies, and encourage local governments to directly help the poor and the unemployed. During the New Deal, there were various relief agencies in the United States, which could be divided into the Ministry of Public Works (the government allocated more than 4 billion US dollars) and the Ministry of Civil Engineering (the investment was nearly 65.438 billion US dollars). The latter built 65.438+08 million small-scale engineering projects nationwide, including school buildings, bridges, dams and dikes. Later, several new relief organizations were established. Among them, the most famous ones are the project establishment organization set up by the National Congress with a grant of 5 billion dollars and the National Youth Administration for young people. They employ a total of 23 million people, accounting for more than half of the national labor force. By the eve of World War II, the federal government had spent $654.38+08 billion on various projects and a small amount of direct relief expenses. The US government has built nearly 654.38+0000 airports, more than 654.38+02000 sports fields and more than 800 school buildings and hospitals, which not only created employment opportunities for craftsmen, unskilled workers and the construction industry, but also provided various jobs for thousands of unemployed artists. The money goes through the pockets of workers, through different channels and consumption, and returns to the hands of capitalists, becoming the "detonating water" to stimulate private consumption and personal investment with government investment.
The second "New Deal" began with 1935. On the basis of the first stage, the achievements of the New Deal were consolidated in the form of legislation through social insurance bill, national labor relations bill, public utilities bill and other laws and regulations. Roosevelt believed that if a government "can't take care of the elderly and the sick, can't provide jobs for the strong, can't inject young people into the industrial system, and let the shadow of insecurity hang over every family, it is not a government that can or should exist", and social insurance should be responsible for the whole life from cradle to grave. To this end, the Social Insurance Law was promulgated. According to the law, all wage workers who retire at the age of 65 can get a monthly pension of $65,438+00 to $85 according to different wage levels. Regarding unemployment insurance, Roosevelt explained: "It can not only help individuals avoid relying on relief when they are dismissed in the future, but also alleviate the impact of economic difficulties by maintaining purchasing power." The source of insurance premium is that half of the insurance premium is paid by working workers and employers, which is equivalent to 1% of workers' wages, and the other half is allocated by the federal government. This social insurance law reflects the strong desire of the broad masses of working people and is welcomed and praised by the vast majority of Americans.
On May 24th, 1937, Roosevelt submitted a widely concerned speech to Congress on the legislation of minimum wage and maximum working hours. The speech admitted that "one third of the population in China, most of whom are engaged in agriculture or industry, can't eat well, dress well and live well". "We must bear in mind that our goal is to improve rather than reduce the living standards of those who are now malnourished, poorly dressed and living in poor conditions. We know that when a large part of our workers are unemployed, overtime and low-level wages cannot increase national income. " Congress did not take action on the bill. 1October 1937+0 12, which Roosevelt proposed again until June 1938+04. This is the "fair labor standards act" (also known as the "Wage and Working Hours Law"). Its main regulations include working 40 hours a week and minimum wage of 40 cents an hour; It is forbidden to use/kloc-children under 0/6 years old, and it is forbidden to use/kloc-workers under 0/8 years old in dangerous industries. With the development of economy, the minimum wage will be adjusted in the future. Although these social legislations belong to the category of social improvement, they are very beneficial to the broad masses of the people, especially the working class. In order to solve the problem of federal funds for the social insurance system, Roosevelt first implemented a progressive tax based on income and assets. Net income of $50,000 and inheritance of $40,000 are levied at 365,438+0%, and inheritance of more than $5 million is levied at 75%; In the past, the corporate tax was always 13.75%. According to the tax law 1935, the tax rate of companies with incomes below $50,000 is reduced to 12.5%, and the tax rate of companies with incomes above $50,000 is increased to 15%.
By 1939, President Roosevelt's New Deal had achieved great success. The New Deal involves almost all aspects of American social and economic life, most of which are specific considerations for the United States to get rid of the crisis and minimize its consequences, and some of them are long-term plans based on the long-term development goals of capitalism. Its direct role is to prevent the collapse of the American economy and help the United States out of the crisis. Since 1935, almost all economic indicators in the United States have steadily picked up. The gross national product increased from $74.2 billion in 1933 to $204.9 billion in 1939, and the number of unemployed people dropped from170,000 to 8 million, which restored people's confidence in the state system and got rid of the threat of fascism to the democratic system. It prevented the United States from violent social unrest in the crisis, created favorable environment and conditions for the United States to participate in the anti-fascist war later, and largely determined the social and economic development direction of the United States after World War II.
1929101On October 24th, the biggest economic crisis broke out in the history of capitalism in the United States. Within a week, Americans lost $654.38+000 billion in wealth in stock trading. Farmers pour milk into the Mississippi River to destroy the "surplus" products. At that time, a children's song was popular in new york:
"Mellon blew his whistle and Hoover rang the doorbell. Wall Street signals that America is heading for hell! "
The hidden crisis in the "crazy 1920s"
From 65438 to 0920, the first economic crisis broke out in the capitalist world after the First World War. After the crisis, the American economy grew rapidly under the influence of "economic bubbles" such as stocks and bonds, creating a miracle in the history of capitalist economy. From 1923 to 1929 in autumn, the annual productivity growth rate reached 4%. At the same time, the values of the whole American society are also changing. Although the traditional values of Puritans are still popular in rural areas, the dominant moral values in cities have undergone tremendous changes. Getting rich has become people's greatest dream, speculation is favored, and organized crime and pleasure are prevalent. A considerable number of people indulge in material comforts all day long, but their spiritual life is impetuous and vulgar, so that many American historians call the United States at this time the spiritual "hunger era" or "crazy 1920s".
Although the prosperity in the 1920s created the golden age of capitalist development, the prosperity itself also lurked profound contradictions and crises. First of all, American agriculture has been in recession for a long time, and rural purchasing power is insufficient. 19 19 farmers' income accounted for 16% of the gross national income, while 1929 only accounted for 8.8% of the gross national income, and farmers went bankrupt one after another. At this time, the per capita income of farmers is only about 1/3 of the national average income.
Secondly, the industrial growth and the redistribution of social wealth in the United States are extremely unbalanced. Industrial growth is mainly concentrated in some emerging industrial sectors, while the old industrial sectors such as mining and shipbuilding are all underemployed, and the textile and leather industries have also experienced a crisis of production reduction, resulting in a large number of workers losing their jobs. During this period, the wind of merger prevailed and social wealth was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people. Kloc-0/6, the largest chaebol in the United States, controls 53% of the country's gross national product, and13 of the country's national income is occupied by the richest 5% of the population; On the other hand, the living standard of about 60% American families is still struggling at the level of $2,000 a year, which is only enough for food and clothing. What's more, 265,438+0% families earn less than $65,438+0,000 a year. In addition, the potential crisis of the balance of payments has also deepened the potential crisis of the US economy. The growing economic power and supply in the United States greatly exceed the demand that can be paid at home and abroad. All these indicate the coming of a great crisis.
1920, Democratic President Wilson leaves office. After Wilson, three presidents and party chairmen Harding, Coolidge and Hoover were in power successively. Some American historians believe that "these three administrations constitute an era in American history" and "in this short period of 65,438+00 years, the moral level in political life has reached a point where it is hard to see how low it is, not to mention the shadow of being responsible for public interests."
"America is going to hell"
1929 President Hoover, who came to power, was an "American hero" who made a fortune by himself. In his campaign speech, he promised the people that "Americans have two chickens in the pot and two cars at home". However, because Hoover stubbornly adhered to the classical theory of liberal capitalism in the economic field and was unable to cope with the subsequent economic crisis, his promise became a blank check that Zhang Yongyuan could not honor. 101On October 24th, an economic crisis storm swept across the United States. This crisis has caused a large-scale decline in production, with a wide range, high unemployment rate and long duration, which is unprecedented.
In the week from 10 year 10 29, Americans lost 10 billion dollars in wealth in stock trading. In order to maintain the price of agricultural products, agricultural capitalists and large farmers destroyed a large number of "surplus" products, used wheat and corn instead of coal as fuel, and poured milk into the Mississippi River, turning the river into a "galaxy". By 1932, the steel industry had dropped by nearly 80% and the automobile industry by 95%. At least130,000 enterprises closed down, accounting for14 of the total labor force in China. Homeless people in the city set up simple shelters with wooden boards, old iron sheets, tarpaulins and even kraft paper. The village where these huts gather is called "Hoover Village", which is intended to satirize President Hoover. In addition, beggars' bags are called "Hoover bags", cars pulled by animals because they can't buy fuel are called "Hoover cars", and even newspapers covered by tramps sleeping on street benches are called "Hoover blankets". There is a popular children's song on the street in new york: "Mellon blows the whistle and Hoover rings the bell. Wall Street signals that the United States is heading for hell! "
The New Deal brought America back to the world.
1933 On March 4th, franklin delano roosevelt took office as the 32nd President of the United States. Roosevelt's series of policies to deal with the crisis were later called "New Deal", and its core was three R's: reform, recovery and rescue. Roosevelt's "New Deal" is not a temporary expedient, but a major operation in the capitalist economy to ensure the stable development of the capitalist system.
Roosevelt's "New Deal" prescription began with rectifying finance. On the third day after taking office, that is,1March 6, 933, Roosevelt announced the national bank "vacation", which was his first step to rebuild the banking industry and economic structure. On March 9, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Law, which adopted a separate examination and licensing system for banks and allowed solvent banks to resume business as soon as possible. 13- 15, most domestic banks have been audited by the Ministry of Finance and resumed business in batches under the supervision of the government. Roosevelt said to the shocked American people, "I assure you that it is safer to deposit your money in the reopened bank than to hide it under the mattress." 16 In June, Congress passed the 1933 Banking Law, and established the federal reserve system, which was under the federal responsibility. As a result of these measures, in less than a year, bank credit recovered rapidly and bank deposits increased by nearly $2 billion!
In rectifying agriculture, the newly established Agricultural Adjustment Agency launched a vigorous action from May 65438 to May 0933. In spring and summer, about 654.38 million mu of cotton fields were systematically plowed, and about 200,000 slaughtered sows, 6 million piglets and tens of millions of cattle and sheep were purchased. The ruthless rule that things are rare is precious comes into play. With the decline of agricultural output and the severe drought from 1933 to 1934, the prices of agricultural products began to rise. From 1932 to 1936, the total agricultural income increased by 50%, and the cash income from selling agricultural products (including government subsidies) almost doubled. The proportion of maintaining parity rose from 55% of 1932 to 90% of 1936.
1in the spring of 933, the Roosevelt administration promulgated the National Industrial Recovery Act aimed at rectifying industry. Its content is divided into two parts: the first part aims to establish a fair competition law that is not restricted by the Trust Law; In the second part, it is proposed to set up a "Ministry of Public Works" and allocate 3.3 billion US dollars for this purpose. Roosevelt called it "the arduous task of industry". In July, he put forward the idea of concluding a "package of laws and regulations", stipulating that employers who are willing to cooperate should ensure compliance with the minimum wage and maximum working hours stipulated by the National Rehabilitation Administration. Two million employers accepted the "package law" and hung the Blue Eagle badge, which is a symbol of obedience to the law. The badge was designed according to the Thunderbird of India.
In the "New Deal", "relief" is a major aspect. While carrying out direct relief, the more important aspect is to replace relief with work. Since Roosevelt took office, he has made great efforts to set up large-scale public projects and expand government expenditure to make up for the gap caused by the decline in private investment and solve some employment problems. 1On April 28th, 935, Roosevelt officially announced the work relief plan, which clearly stipulated that the unemployed who have the ability to work should not be given relief money, but help them get their wages by taking part in different jobs.
There are different opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of the "New Deal".
As soon as the "New Deal" was introduced, it aroused widespread concern in American society, and different political groups gave different comments on it. Hearst, a staunch opponent of Roosevelt and a newspaper king, said that the "New Deal" was unfair; Thorpe Surridge, but successful. John Genji, a famous American journalist and writer, said that the best definition he heard of the "New Deal" was that "some spineless liberals tried to save capitalism for those capitalists who were driven out of their wits". Others condemned the "New Deal" as fascism in the guise of liberalism.
American economists have two views on the New Deal. One school thinks that the New Deal failed to inspire the confidence of private enterprises, and the basic condition for the success of capitalist order is to stimulate entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial spirit, which needs stimulation and compensation. Some measures of the New Deal are aimed at curbing this spirit. The other school is Keynes and his followers or semi-followers. They believe that only by implementing a bold deficit policy of increasing expenditure can the national economy embark on the track of revival, and Roosevelt has not done enough in this regard.
Roosevelt's "New Deal" was an important event in the development of capitalism in the 20th century, which helped the American capitalist system survive an unprecedented catastrophe 1929- 1933. The American capitalist system was saved and the world capitalist system was restored. This made the New Deal gain a place in American history and world history.