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War bonds emerged first world war. The Government did not have enough money to fund all of the production that was needed to fight in the war. Citizens were asked to aid in this area. War bonds allowed the American people could essentially "invest" in the war, and receive money back with interest later on for contributing to the needs of the war right now. This allowed for the US to be successful in the war. It was also one of the first forms of investing in US History (Ott, 2008).
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The Stock Market introduced an idea that is now a staple of American Capitalism. This is the principle of investor democracy. People were able to choose industries that they thought would do well in order to get a return on their investment. This began a cycle of where companies were reliant on their investors to grow, and investors could have says in what companies did. Institutions began to cater to the shareholder, and this was a shift to consumer's running the economy (Ott, 2008).
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The Great Depression was one of the first major economic crises in american capitalism. The stock market crash followed by bank runs and unemployment cause so much panic for a large period of time in the US. Despite this being a very scary time, it is very important for capitalism because it allowed for reforms that came later, and showed the current system all of the mistakes that it had to fix. The depression and was really a wakeup call that action needed to be taken (Appleby, 2010).
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The New Deal was one of the first instances of government intervention in the economy. After the Great Depression, work needed to be done to bring the US back to it's status as an economic powerhouse. With FDR making all of the programs, he showed a form of security that seemed lost during the time of the depression. These measures provided both repairs for what is broken, and precaution for the future. Citizens could be confident again in financial security after the new deal (Cohen, 2004).
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When the second world war came around, the industrialized US was prepared. Factories began to mass produce weapons, armor, and anything else needed for the war at an extreme pace. Jobs became available for many people who were unemployed. Women were called upon to fill the roles of men who were fighting at war, so gender roles even began to change. This mass production would soon transition to other products after the war, and began to rely on the consumer power the economy (Cohen, 2004).
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Levittown greatly influenced consumer purchasing. The mass producing of houses created the standard American life. People were tasked to purchase a house, purchase things to put in the house, purchase a car to go to and from work, and start a family in that house. Consumers needed to purchase all of these things in order to have a proper family. Industries that made war products shifted to start making appliances and automobiles. The consumer republic was born. (Cohen, 2004).
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Credit was always a foundation of American Capitalism. However, it was not always available to everyone. African Americans and women specifically had a hard time buying on credit because they had no references. The 1960's were a time when merchants began to expand to these groups of people as well as others. This was just the start, but with merchants starting this process in the 60's, it allowed for almost all people to be able to purchase credit in today's age (Hyman, 2011).
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Brands such as Wal-Mart were the birth of a new industry. This was one that provided only service to its consumers, as all of the products in a Wal-Mart are produced by other companies. Shopping in stores like Wal-Mart is a very standard practice now, but selling service was very new at this time. In an economy that relied on production of objects and consumption, this was a welcome change. Other companies bloomed from this, and became a piece of the economy since this date (Moreton, 2007).
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Facebook launched in 2004 and created a whole new type of capitalism. Using a service for the price of viewing advertisements was completely new. While it is technically free, we are constantly told to BUY BUY BUY. With the addition of facebook marketplace and other shopping pages within social media, it's influence on capitalism continues to grow. Social media apps now cater our ads to what we search for. Facebook birthed this and its influence on consumers is dangerous (Miller, 2019).
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This event was one similar to the Great Depression. The housing bubble that had been built up through the years burst, and unemployment went through the roof. However, the US put a plan in place to help undo this fast. The US turned to the private sector with companies like JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America. They helped to stabilize the housing market and relieve some stress caused by the recession. Although it took a while to overcome this, it was handled well (Tooze, 2018).