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U.S Steel is created
Andrew Carnegie, wrote a number of nearly half a billion dollars on a napkin and gave it to J.P. Morgan. That Andrew Carnegie, a man known for his success in the steel industry, first decided to create his own steel mill. He then perfected vertical integration, where he owned all of the stages of making steel. This, along with the large demand for steel allowed Carnegie to make a very large profit -
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Some econmic events That Have Happened
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Progessive era
During the Progressive Era, many progressive ideas and reforms influenced the economy of America. The 16th Amendment created a direct income tax, which would allow the government to collect funds as opposed to the earlier method of using tariffs. Also, trust busting broke the monopolies of many big businesses in the nation. Finally, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created 12 regional banks and a central bank to control currency, circulation, and giving/controling loans, and set interest rates -
The war economy
With the advent of World War 1 came two parallel phenomena. First, thousands of young men were shipped off the continent to Europe. Second, the Allied powers’ constant demand for munitions and other war supplies forced America to expand significantly. So, as demand jumped dramatically the labor force actually shrunk. This led to an unemployment drop and wage increases. The war economy was a boom economy, but when the war ended everything was reversed, and a ravaged Europe was not a good market. -
Black Thursday
, overproduction and a decrese in demand for consumer goods caused mass panic. Reports explained the drop in value of many companies and many people rushed to sell their stocks, as stock speculation became so popular during the 20s. The stock market's value declined dramatically. In an effort to fix the issue, a group of businessmen decided to buy millions of dollars in stock. This seemed to work and things looked better the next day, but it proved to be ineffective. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a decade long economic slowdown. It caused widespread hardship, stranded a generation, and affected every sector of the economy. The Great Depression destroyed many peoples’ savings and loaded banks with toxic valueless assets, which made it particularly difficult to fix. The bank runs which plagued the banking system during the early days contributed to this meaningless destruction. -
Federal Deposit Insurance Corperation
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation When the Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933, it created a revolutionary program that would greatly influence Americans lives during the Great Depression. This program was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which assured citizens $5000 from the government if their bank failed. It was important to people because after the stock market crashed in 1929, bank runs occured and many lost all the money they owned. -
The jeep is invented
for the U.S. Military by The American Bantam car company. The final production was awarded to Willys as the military felt Bantam was too small a company to produce the necessary numbers needed. -
World War II
World War 2 During World War 2, the extremely low unemployment rate that had haunted Americans in the previous years nearly vanished. There was a substantial amount of work available producing armaments and other wartime prodcuts. Government spending reached an all-time high of 98.4 billion dollars in 1945. Women too filled in for men as they left to fight overseas. -
The cold war
During the Cold War, President's Truman and Eisenhower never fully demobilized from World War II. During Eisenhower's presidency, defense spending would continue to make up around 50% of a federal budget which was much larger than it had ever been in the past. This substantial spending supported a large defense industry in America which continues to provide employment for Americans throughout the Cold War. -
Second Industrial Revolution 1860-1910
The internal combustion engine, electricity, and steel were all innovative new technologies which were perfected during the second industrial revolution. This was essentially the furthering of the first industrial revolution, Carnegie Steel, Standard Oil, JP Morgan, the railroad giants, and many other industrial titans rose to prominence during this period. Working conditions were not good, but factory wages provided more income than agriculture. -
Stagflation
During the 70s and 90s, the nation's economy faced the issue of stagflation. This is when the economy is not growing, production is not increasing, prices are going up but people aren't getting wealthier, and the unemployment rate is high. This mainly troubled Ford's presidency and as a response, the president attempted to WIN (whip inflation now), but failed to solve the problem. -
Economic Boom of 1990s
During the 1990s, the economy experienced prosperity as the GPD or gross domestic product continued to rise for nearly a decade. Stagnation was no longer an issue and the employment rate rose from its previous numbers. -
Recession of early 2000s
As a result of the boom of the 1990s, the US ran into a recession mainly in 2002-2003. This was predicted as other nations had the same issue a year earlier. A contributing factor was that the gross domestic product decreased.
