In March 1980, Carter introduced his own policies for reducing inflation, and the Federal Reserve brought down interest rates to cooperate with the initiatives. Technological innovations of the final third of the 20th century were significant, but were not as powerful as those of the first two-thirds of the century. Manufacturing productivity growth continued at a somewhat slower rate than in earlier decades, but overall productivity was dragged down by the relative increase in size of the government and service sectors. Very little housing had been built during the Great Depression and World War II, except for emergency quarters near war industries. Some suburbs had developed around large cities where there was rail transportation to the jobs downtown. However, the real growth in suburbia depended on the availability of automobiles, highways, and inexpensive housing.
In general, rising unemployment rates are often seen as an indicator of trouble for the economy, and falling unemployment rates can be viewed as the opposite. This is a collection of 500 of the largest publicly traded stocks in the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by comparison, comprises only 30 stocks.
If notions of autonomy and material security through land ownership no longer defined the American Dream, the rising standard of living did. Pleasure and acquisition came to be viewed as the reason for labor, and both were achieved by shopping. Through the calculated actions of business leaders and the willing acquiescence of the middle-class consumer, a new culture was formed that prized consumption as the ultimate expression of happiness and success. Little noticed at the time, the democratization of desire had encouraged many to value luxury over security. Well over half of the automobiles that were purchased at this time were bought with credit.
This new spirit contrasted sharply with the work of most African American artists, musicians, and writers who, prior to the 1920s, mirrored European styles. Because most white Americans also sought to produce art and literature that reflected European standards, the Harlem Renaissance would inspire the creation of uniquely American art, music, and literature in future generations. Zora Neale Hurston would later become one of the most well-known writers of the era, although her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was not published until 1937. Hurston’s work acknowledged the poverty and conditions faced by rural blacks and celebrated black dialogue.
Find the premier business analysis Ebooks, templates, and apps at the Master Analyst Shop. Metrics are crucial for business planning, making informed decisions, defining strategic targets, and measuring performance. Not surprisingly, this field is characterized by competing theories and speculation, but few established “laws.” office depå From 1929 to 1933—the Great Depression—when the US GDP nearly 33% and unemployment rose to 25%. N the United States, economists define a recession as two consecutive quarters of decline in the GDP. The National Bureau of Economic Research provides this definition, but it is not, however, the only definition in use.
LaGuardia joined tens of thousands of New Yorkers and millions of immigrants across the nation in declaring that they would not be treated as strangers in their own land. Similar protests were held on the West Coast, including legal challenges to California’s Alien Land Law of 1920, which prohibited Asian Americans from owning land. This law was clearly intended to restrict migrants from Southern and Central Europe, but it cunningly obscured this objective by issuing quotas that made no mention of race, nationality, or ethnicity.
Due to difficulty in controlling quality and embrittlement with aging, Bessemer steel was not suitable for structural purposes. Various Homestead Acts distributed land nearly for free in return for improvements such as building a house, farming, or planting trees. Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed 270,000,000 acres of federal land for private ownership. The Land Office made about 100 million acres of direct sales in the western United States from 1850 to 1900, benefiting cattle ranchers and speculators.
Steam engines soon became common in public water supply, sawmills and flour milling, especially in areas with little or no water power. Starting in 1776, the Congress sought to raise money by loans from wealthy individuals, promising to redeem the bonds after the war. The bonds were in fact redeemed in 1791 at face value, but the scheme raised little money because Americans had little specie, and many of the rich merchants were supporters of the Crown. Starting in 1776, the French secretly supplied the Americans with money, gunpowder and munitions in order to weaken its arch enemy, Great Britain.
Advertising had existed in earlier days, but its main purpose had been to deliver the straight facts about products to consumers. Advertisements became a kind of art form, with the purpose of persuading people to buy things. This was done by convincing them that these things were necessary through appeals to people’s emotions, personal goals, or dreams.
Part of the reason for organized labor’s trouble was the slight decrease in the percentage of workers employed in blue-collar jobs due to technology and automation. The emergence of the modern corporation created tens of thousands of new jobs in clerical fields, but these usually remained impervious to organization. Despite the decline in percentages and overall numbers of union workers, labor strikes remained the most potent weapon in the arsenal of labor activism. One of the largest and most radical strikes occurred in a location that had been least welcoming to unions in the past—the South. Northern textile mills had moved to the South in previous decades for precisely this reason.
