Why Did The Policies Of President Hoover Fail To Combat The Great Depression Effectively?

In October 1929, the USA was plunged into the sharpest recession to take place in American history. The period it lasted for became known as the Great Depression. Drastic action was required to fix the situation, and the first person people looked to was President Hoover, who had unluckily took up presidency eight months before the Wall Street Crash. However, Hoover is known for his inability to sue federal powers to overcome the Depression quickly and effectively. Some recent historians have been more sympathetic towards Hoover because they believe he was a victim of both his own mindset and of one of the most difficult to solve crises in American history. But most believe it was his political beliefs and policies that stopped him fight the Depression successfully. Hoover's main trouble was that he was not willing for direct government to take place. His two central policies were self-help and voluntary co-operation. His continued belief in these represented his continued belief that the economy had to right itself and that changes he made would not help – â€Å"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement†. Indeed, Hoover knew that the government was urgently required to take action but the action he was willing to take was not nearly enough to deal with the depth of the Depression, as shown through eight different areas of the Depression federal government policies were made on. These were agriculture, tariffs, repudiation of war debts, voluntarism, unemployment relief, Federal Home Loan Bank Act, Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) and war veterans and the ‘Bonus Army'. The legislation passed in all of these areas was a failure, which lost Hoover all credibility. The Agricultural Marketing Act was passed in 1929, creating a nine-person Federal Farm Board with funds of $500 million to create ‘stabilisation corps', and the crops created were eventually bought back at higher prices. The agricultural policy failed for two reasons: firstly because it paid US farmers artificially high prices and could not continue in the long term; secondly because it treated agriculture as a domestic, not foreign, issue. Cheap foreign imports became a problem, and the answer appeared to be even higher tariffs. In June 1930, the Hawley-Smoot tariff was enforced – and was the highest in US history. Its result was most European nations abandoning free trade. Hoover could have vetoed the bill but chose not to. In the repudiation of war debts, Hoover blamed the Depression on Europe, though the situation was in fact vice versa. Europe could not afford to pay back war debts, and international trades decreased. Countries worldwide were in a more depressed state, again a negative result. Hoover placed the onus of improving the situation onto the businesses rather than the government. He told businessmen not to cut their workforces or wages but to maintain output and encourage buying. As the depression worsened, however, they could not afford to do this. Workers were fired and wages reduced, raising unemployment levels. So, Hoover then secured $500 million in 1932 from Congress to use as unemployment relief, but the amount simply wasn't enough. He also set up the President's Emergency Committee for Employment to help agencies organise efforts, but still refused to help directly because of his self-help policies. An example of this is during the 1930-31 drought, which was so severe it led to almost starvation in the South. Congress gave $47 million to be offered as loans, but Hoover still didn't want to give direct relief. He didn't believe in giving out benefits. So unemployment relief was another failed attempt by Hoover to fight the Depression. The Federal Home Lon Bank Act was passed in July 1932, and was Hoover's attempt to save mortgages. A series of Federal Home Loan banks were set up to help loan associations providing mortgages. However, they only lent 50% of the property value. The Act failed and was largely ineffective, and homes were repossessed. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was Hoover's most radical measure to overcome the Depression and the precursor to the New Deal initiatives of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The RFC was established in January 1932 and could lend up to $2 billion to stabilise banks, insurance companies, railroads and construction companies that were suffering. It was a measure taken to restore confidence. The loans, however, were given mainly to big banks and larger companies. The RFC eventually failed because it was giving too little too late. By this time, Hoover's credibility was severely damaged, but the nail in the coffin was yet to come – the treatment of the Bonus Army, which portrayed him as cold and cruel. In 1925, Congress agreed to give veterans of WW1a ‘bonus' to be paid in 1945. In June 1932, 20,000 war veterans marched to Washington to request their bonus early in order to survive the Depression. They were told that the government could not afford to pay them, but Hoover would pay for their trip home. Feeling betrayed, the veterans set up camp. Hoover feared violence, to the extent of revolution, and called in the military. Tanks, infantry and tear gas destroyed the camp and drove away the veterans. These men who had served their country were called â€Å"tramps and hoodlums with a generous sprinkling of Communist agitators†. Hoover was solely blamed for the dispersal of the Bonus Army, which was a major political blunder. By now, the people of America had turned away from Hoover and were looking for answers elsewhere – Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Already popular as Governor of New York State, Roosevelt appealed to the US people because he proposed to take the action that Hoover would not and showed flexibility. Through his time as Governor, Roosevelt showed his willingness to listen to others' ideas and his belief that direct government intervention was necessary. An example of his flexibility is the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, set up in 1932. Though it was temporary, it was the first state-run relief effort in the nation. In comparison, Hoover refused to hear ideas remotely associated with government intervention. However, some historians argue that Hoover did in fact involve the government in more areas of life than ever before, for example the expansion of federal lending and the encouragement of public works' schemes. Hoover had a personal concern for those suffering the Depression. He cut his own and state officials' salaries by 20% and had long working hours. On the other hand, he showed optimism in public, which led people to accuse him of losing touch with reality. Although Hoover worked tirelessly to fight the Depression, his refusal to abandon his policies of self-help and voluntary co-operation prevented him from doing so successfully. In conclusion, President Hoover's policies failed to combat the Great Depression effectively because the help they provided were very limited in the extent the Depression had gone to. Because of his beliefs in self-help and voluntary co-operation he blocked direct government intervention from his policies, driving away supporters towards Roosevelt, who won the elections of 1932 and began his ‘New deal'.

Assumption Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assumption Paper - Essay Example (Whitney, 2002) Antitheist perspective explains that a supreme, self aware, and benevolent being called God does not exist at all. Polytheism and atheism can also be included under this term. It is not very difficult to tolerantly deal with evil and even to submit to it if we develop an antitheist view. This is because that at least in the Christian world view, God is a self existent, loving, and benevolent being (Brown and Phillips, 1996); but antitheism denies a God altogether. This doesn’t mean that they cannot have their own deity. And when this deity is presented before the masses in a terrorist and unethical manner, evil is born. So, existence of evil in this world might be nothing unexpected in the view of an antitheist. A pantheist may not deny the existence of a God (or one and only one God), but according to him/her, God might not be benevolent and loving. God is all penetrating, pervasive, and understand, and evil exists because of His impervious being. (Brown and Phillips, 1996) Such a tremendously apathy generating representation may explain evil as another creation of God. Hence, staunch pantheists may hold that evil, although is a problem, cannot be avoided and should not be avoided. Rather, humans should be prepared to fight and ward off the evil. Agnostic perspective is very much reason based. It is based on the difference between belief and knowledge. Hence, an agnostic person must be inquisitive and may not take anything for granted. Brown and Phillips (1996) believe that agnostic view is a kind of middle path. Therefore, a strict agnostic must find out what is evil and what is its relationship with God in the case God exists. In the view of an event like the collapse of Twin Towers, agnostic perspective might handle the issue by a comparative analysis of both the theist and antitheist paths. Since according to the

What role does smoking prevention play in adolescence before adulthood Research Paper

What role does smoking prevention play in adolescence before adulthood and addiction to smoking - Research Paper Example A better understanding of factors associated with adolescent readiness to quit smoking prior to receiving any intervention may provide guidance when tailoring future MI interventions to increase their effectiveness with this population. Proposing of this study was to examine if the majority of adolescents believed that smokers agreed and felt that smoking was addictive and may cause death. All seemed of the opinion that this was for most people who are smoking. When nailing down the optimism viewpoint that adolescents were equally of the opinion that they would not die from smoking. Nonsmokers were of the opinion they would die from smoking. Overwhelming, the adolescents who did not smoke thought that the people who smoked for 30 to 40 years would die from smoking. Most of the people questioned believed they could smoke for a certain number of years and quit. Adolescents agree that smoking was addictive. What role does smoking prevention play in adolescence before adulthood and addic tion to smoking? 1. Rationale Preventing smoking and to help adolescents quit smoking have been met with limited success. This is a preventable disease. Smoking is the number one cause of death in the United States. The purpose of the study was to show that there remains a great deal of optimism when visiting with adolescences while they filled questionnaires (Apodaca, 2003). Smokers are more optimistic about not dying from smoking behaviors than non-smokers. The hypothesis would state, does motivational interviewing (MI) tailoring future MI interventions to increase their effectiveness with this adolescence population in the role of smoking prevention. In the health care field, nurses are much in demand. Nurses compared to doctors are about four to one. Nurses continue to contribute to critical inpatient care. They are in demand in outpatient care, central to palliative, hospice, home, and long-term institutions (AMA, 2009). The general purpose of nursing is to deliver excellent ca re to each patient through the management of resources and to maintain a professional work environment. The purpose of nursing is also to maintain a professional work environment that ensures the nursing association is competent and has a high satisfaction rate. This plays right into the necessity that nurses will experience diseases from smoking and that smoking prevention plays an important role to adolescence behavior (AMA, 2009). Prevention of illness and promotion of health always have been important to the nursing profession. A recent Gallop Organization reported that Americans rate nurses at the top of that professional list (Gallop, 2009). Florence Nightingale saw as far back as 1859 that nursing consisted of those activities that put the patient in the best condition that nature can act upon that patient. The added goal of today can be to restore the patient's independence. Nurse's work has much to do with immunization, education, environmental safety and disease screening (White, 2010). Our hypothesis is nurses can assist with motivational interviewing (MI) tailoring future MI interventions in to increase their effectiveness with this adolescence population in the role of smoking prevention. Because the nursing organization must already perform five functions, it makes sense that a nurse would help with this provision of excellent adolescent patient care. Nursing also provides the bulk of patient and family education and much of the community health education. Therefore, motivational interviewing (MI) could be the first step in any intervention of the adolescence population in a brief smoking intervention in a hospital setting which adolescents

Unethical Business Research Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Unethical Business Research Practice - Essay Example Unethical Business Research Practice The application of moral and ethical principles sin business is vital for organizational success. Background to the Trovan Case In 1996, Nigeria encountered an outbreak of Cerebral Spinal meningitis, the worst public health crisis that the country has ever faced (Edwards par 1). During the crisis, 1500 people succumbed to the disease. A number of non-governmental organizations including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reached out to the people in need faced (Gupta par 1). The organization treated well over 11500 infected individuals. A few weeks following the outbreak, Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, sent its employees to conduct clinical trials with its newly developed brand of antibiotics Trovafloxacin (Trovan ®). Pfizer’s intention seemingly was upright. It sought to provide Nigeria with a life saving, cheap, innovative and less painful antibiotic to counter the dreadful disease. The company stated that the medicine could effectively treat mening ococcal meningitis in adults and children. The company engaged a sample of the affected population in a study, featuring about 200 children (Gupta par 2). During the study 50% of the children sampled were treated with Trovafloxacin while the rest were treated with Ceftriaxon, the ‘best practice medication’. The study saw the death of 11 children, members of the study group. Several others suffered physical and mental disorders in the course of or after receiving treatment. What Unethical Research Behavior was involved? Pfizer in seeking to find a solution to the problem facing Nigeria, failed to observe crucial research requirements. For one, the organization did not pay attention to the issue of informed consent. The company involved a sample of children in the study without having their parents or guardians consent to their research activities. This for a fact goes against ethical standards when carrying out studies that involve children or people who are mentally ret arded. Who Were the Injured Parties? In the Trovan case, the injured persons were the children who were subjected to the clinical trials without parental (and guardian) consent. All the children who were included in the study, in this respect suffered injury although those who received the â€Å"best practice† medicine may not have suffered physically or mentally. Effects of the Unethical Behavior on the Organization, the Individual, and Society As previously noted, the Pfizer study resulted in the death of 11 children. Many other children suffered physical and mental disorders following the study. Parents and relatives to the children suffered great loss having lost their loved ones. Others possibly incurred more medical costs and suffered psychologically from the results of the study. Pfizer as a company on the other hand has suffered loss in respect of the litigation. The Nigerian government launched a suit against Pfizer claiming a total of seven billion US dollars (Edwar ds par 1). This amount is demanded in compensation for the victims and their relatives. The company is bound to lose a lot of cash after the case, pending in court to-date, is concluded. Yet again, the company’s reputation was negatively affected with many customers losing favour with the company. In fact, the drug has been banned in Europe and is restrictively used in North America. How Could the Unethical Behavior be Avoided or Resolved? The damage caused to the children and their relatives related mainly to lack of informed conse

Perfect Competition and Long-run Equilibrium Term Paper

Perfect Competition and Long-run Equilibrium - Term Paper Example Basically, in a market of perfect competition does not give monopoly to a single company. A single firm or company does not rule over the whole market as many firms are producing the same products. Thus one single firm is not able to determine the prices of products. A market with perfect competition would have many suppliers, producers and consumers because of the different firms involved in such a market. The perfect competition involves many sellers or firms and thus it cannot be found to be very common in this world. In perfect competition it is not difficult for the new firms to enter, thus it is seen that many sellers are involved in this type of competition. The reason for this is that the firms do not have to have a huge capital to enter this competition and they can seek help from many individuals when entering in this sector. Moreover not only is it easy to enter the perfectly competitive market but also it is easy to exit such a market. The transactions which are made in t his type of competition do not cost anything to the buyers or sellers. In such a type of competition, it is aimed that the firms maximize their profits by selling their products where the marginal costs and marginal revenue are in equilibrium. The most important characteristic of such a competition is that the products which are being sold are usually manufactured by many companies thus strong competition is felt in this type of competition. An example of perfect competition is a group of fruit vendors who are selling the same fruits.

Critiquing Business Plan In Emerging Market.Businesses In Brazil Assignment

Critiquing Business Plan In Emerging Market.Businesses In Brazil - Assignment Example There are cases and instances that governments try to come to the aid of some of these entrepreneurs by use of favorable macro and micro economic policies. This notwithstanding, not all of these policies have eliminated the barriers. Interesting, studies have even confirmed that most economic policies put in place by the Brazilian central government also turn round to be barriers for most entrepreneurs seeking to start up new businesses especially those in the oil and gas sector, of which the biodiesel industry is part (Gartner, 1985). In this critique paper for a business plan that is ready for implementation of a biodiesel startup company in Brazil, the various barriers that may possibly exist and methods that can be used to mitigate each of these barriers are outlined. Licensing The licensing of company system that exists in Brazil could serve as a major barrier to both the entry and growth of the new biodiesel company intended for Brazil. This is because there are licensing regul ations, which have been criticized by most economists and market players as being investor hostile. Unfortunately, such hostility exists in cases that the government feels that the coming of certain companies may be a major competition for existing and known state corporations (Ivanova, 2009). A typical example of this is in the area of energy, where even though there is an open market, the state still practices a casual monopoly, trying to prevent private participation. As part of the casual monopoly strategy, private individuals are made to undergo several routine processes in getting license to operate (Krasniqi, 2007). Meanwhile, the possession of a license to make the commencement of business in Brazil is very important as it opens the avenue for such companies to benefit and enjoy trade incentives that may exist. What is more, in order to have an international reputation and open one’s business up for international investment and other forms of business expansion option s such as enlistment on the Brazilian Stock Exchange, license registration is demanded. A method to overcome this barrier would be to first enter the market as a partner to an existing registered local company. This way, the company will not be given the kind of hostile treatment given to expatriate companies. After some time when there is a separation in the ownership of the company, the license of the original company will over both separated companies if there was ownership up to a certain number of years. Lending and Credit bias in favor of multinationals Access to money for entrepreneurs remains a major barrier to growth for most new entrants in Brazil. This is because there is a form of lending and credit bias that favors existing and well established international and multinational companies as against new entrants and small and medium scale businesses in Brazil (Foley, 2003). Commonly, the financial institutions, most of which are banks try to justify some of these biases by explaining that new entrants and small and medium scale companies lack credit credibility. What this means is that they are not tried and tested in their finances such that they can be trusted with huge sums of credit. In most cases therefore, there is a limitation on the amount of money that can borrowed by these new entrants. Where there are no limitations on the quantum of money that can be borrowed, there are strict lending processes that delay

The Externalities of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The Externalities of Education - Essay Example This creates a platform for businesses to hire more employees to work and meet customer’s needs. The second externality is social-cultural diversity. It is worth noting that, in public people learn how to interact with others as they are people from different backgrounds, cultures, and races. Public education helps one to interact with other people and this carried over to work force where one becomes friendly, tolerant, and understanding to different people. The last positive externality of public education is that it creates better work force. A better work force comes from excellence education whether private or public. Quality education produces better work force especially in the technological world of the 21st Century. With public education, people are equipped to handle demanding jobs, be in demand, and likely further education after high school. In support of existence of public k-12 school systems, schooling is free for all students, which become proficient for people from poor backgrounds. As discussed earlier, in public school socio-cultural diversity and education can be acquired in various ways such as home schooling, online school, charter school, and school building. With online, home, and virtual schooling, there are many options of subjects and curriculum. In this way, one can acquire quality education at a lower cost than that of private school. According to National Education Association of the United States (1984), public schools have charter schools that help students learn the trade and this shapes them to face the real world of trading and make a living from it or further studies. Since public school comprises of a varied student body, students become more sociable which equip them to tolerate different personalities. In reality, the real world comprises of people from different cultures, ethnicities, races, and backgrounds. Strong social skills enable an