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Capitalism
It is important to note that the United States, for almost the entirety of its history, has had an economy based capitalism. This is a major factor in how the United States would shape its economy throughout history. -
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The industrial Revolution
This is the time period where the U.S. started to shift its production of goods to be more automated rather than hand made. These jobs required little to no skill, and have much higher rate of production. The reason why I have this timespan up to today is that, even to today, there have constantly been new improvements on industrial production. -
U.S.'s first industrialized buisness
Samuel Slater emigrated from Britain to the U.S. after working at an industrial textile industry. He reproduced the mill, and esablished the nation's first successful textile mill. This mill was also one of the first industrialized buisnesses to be founded in the U.S.. This historical moment was the United State's first step to becomming a country of industrialization. -
Eli Whitney invented the IInterchangeable parts
This would be one of the first steps toward the use of mass production in industrial factories. These parts were easy to replicate, and could be easily be replaced. This made them perfect to be manufactured in an industrialized factory. -
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WW1
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Post WW1 economics
After the war, many returning soldiers faced unemployment. The cost of living had also doubled as well. Most of the population delt with these conditions by believeing more in isolationism. This caused a drastic decrease in international trade, and caused the price of some goods to go up. At the time, there were also a lot of conflicts and strikes between management and labor. This isolationism would later contribute to the creation of new policies that would cause the Great Depression. -
1920's economic boom
This economic boom caused by the rapid rise of urbanization, multiple technological advances, and the creation of mass-production. Many prospered, but those working in agriculture faced many hardships. With this success, many people started to buy things on installment plans with easy credit. People also started to take place in risky buisness plans with stocks like speculation and buying on margin. This would later be one of the main causes for the Great Depression. -
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
This raised the taxes on many U.S. imports to a record high 60%. This did protect U.S. buisnesses from competition, but ultimately hurt the economy of other countries who needed the money to recover from the war. This Tariff was one of the results of the isolationism that was adopted in the U.S. after WW1 -
Pre-Great Depression economics
This was caused by the availability of easy credit, new policies that were against foreign trade, problems in agriculture, and the uneven distribution of wealth. All of these factors led to the crash in the stock market, and the start of the Great Depression. -
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US Great Depression
Starting with the crash of the Stock Market, and ending after the New Deal's programs were enacted.
Ending Estimated -
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WW2
Starting with the German invasion of Poland, and ending with Germany's surrender. -
OPA established
Office of Price Administration. With the conversion of so many factories it was expected that the price of regular goods would go up. This administration set the prices on most goods, wages and rents so that people can still afford their daily lives. This also raised income taxes, and spread its influence to people who have never paid before.This also helped fight inflation by giving people less money to spend, and reduce comsumer demand on rare goods. -
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Increase in federal government economic influence
This is the time during the war when the federal government had a much greater influence than normal. Many of the agencies and laws that were created had a great economic influence. This was to help deal with the economic struggle that people faced because of the war. While also helping to raise funds for the war. -
WPB was established (Part 2)
Many factories resisted the conversion/expansion of their factories, but were given the incentives of low-coast loans, taxwrite-offs, and subsidies to change their minds. This led to a great amount of factories being built. Not only did the WPB drastically increase the creation of wartime supplies, but it also revealed the United States true manufacuring potential. Multiple factories at the time only worked at about half capacity. -
WPB was established (Part 3)
This shift in production made the U.S. the largest manufacturers in the world. The increase in manufacturing also increased the need for additional workers as well. This created a lot of available jobs, and helped with the unemployment that some people still faced after the great depression. -
WPB was established (Part 1)
A short while after the United States entered the second world war, there were not enough factories to produce the supplies needed to support the war (tanks, guns, explosives, ect). For this reason Franklin Roosevelt created the WPB (Short for the War Production Board) to fix the problem. This board would decide which companies would convert form making their origional product, to helping wartime production (ex. converting automobile plants to making planes, boats, and tanks). -
GI Bill created
This bill gave free college tuition for any veterans who were returning from battle. This Bill also effected those who have all ready returned from battle. This greatly increased the number of college grads, and also created a much more educated workforce. This bill also established veterans' hospitals, vocational rehabilitation, and offered low-interest mortages which helped create new businesses. This would later be one of the main factors of the post-WW2 economic boom. -
Post WW2 economic boom
This was the start of an era of economic prosparity for the U.S.. This was caused by the combination of matured war bonds, the GI Bill creating an educated workforce, and the pent up demand for good from the war. This economic flourish would later lead to a rise in consumerism in the 1950's. -
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Cold War
Starting with the United States protection of Iran, and ending with Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in the USSR.
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GATT was established
Short for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It was a treaty
that was created at the end of WW2. It was created to regulate world trade, and help the economic recovery after the war. This was created to reduce the barriers of international trade through the means of reducing tariffs, quotas and subsidies. This was later replaced with the WOT, but is still in effect by the WOT. -
50's Consumerism increase
With the end of WW2, people started to think more about there daily lives. This caused a massive increase in demand for goods. This demand was assisted by the eonomic boom that gave people the funds to buy things. Also by the creation of new international conglomerates and franchises that gave people new things to buy. This led to a leisurely lifestyle of spending that is still being pursued for today. This risky spending would be proven very harmful with the later rise of inflation. -
Rise in Businesses and Conformity
With the rise in consumerism, businesses started to expand in new ways. This includes the creation of new international conglomerates, and new franchises that spread across the whole country. These new franchises standardized what people bought, and created a loss in individuality. Many of these franchises, like McDonalds, are still fairly popular today. -
Nixon Shock
These were the economic changes that President Richard Nixon implemented to try and fight the slowly rising unemployment and inflation rates. This involved the ending of the Bretton Woods Sysyem, and the shift to a floating exchange rate system. This was successful at first, but would later make the economy too unstable. It caused the inflation rate to sharply go up, and would later be considered one of the first main causes of the 1970's stagflation. -
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70's rise in stagflation
There are many factors that involve this, but it started with the Nixon Shock. With it ending the Bretton Woods System, it caused the initial downward spiral. This is supported by people buying more goods out of fear of things getting worse. This is also increased by the 1973 oil crisis, the steel crisis, the 1973-1974 stockmarket crash, and the energy shortage. When the Federal Reserve Board clamped down on wasteful spending, it caused a terrible recession in 1973-75. -
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1973-1975 Recession
This is considered the end of the WW2 economic boom. Even though the recession technically ended in 1975, its effects of inflation and unemployment lasted until President Ronald Reagan was elected. -
Rise in Outsourcing
In countries like China, Bangladesh, and India, worker's paychecks became less than workers in the U.S.. Retail companies started to buy there products overseas since it was much cheaper than making it in their own country. This made products cheaper here in the U.S., but it also took many possible jobs away. Also, the working conditions for the overseas workers was terrible. Outsourceing is at an even higher rate than it was back in day day, and it is constantly growing. -
Reaganomics
This refers to the economic policies that President Reagan used to help end the recession. This would include supply-side economics (Trickle-down economics), reducing the growth of government spending, reducing the federal income tax, reducing capital gains tax, reducing government regulation, and tightening the money supply. These methods became very popular, and are still used as a model for many economists today. -
1990's economic boom
This was caused by the internet's rise in popularity, and the creation of multiple new industries that were involved with it. -
NAFTA is established
Short for the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA's goal was to create a free trade area between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This would reduce trading costs, increase business investments, and help North America have a stronger influence in the Global Market. All Tariffs between the three countries were eliminated (January 2008). Also, between 1993 and 2009 trade tripled from $297 billion to $1.6 trillion. -
WTO was established
The WTO (World Trade Organization) is an organization that deals with everything involving international trade. This includes trade opening, negotiating trade agreements, settle trade disputes, and operates a sysyem of trade rules. Its members consist of people form all of the governments involved. The WTO makes sure that the whole world is trading with each other in a calm and orderly fashion. This organization is still being used today to help keep the peace in trade. -
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Great Recession
This recession was caused by the bursting of the U.S. houseing bubble. This also caused the subsequent interbank credit crisis. This was considered a global recession with the decline of the global GDP, and greatly effected countries all around the world. Even though the recession has technically ended, some countries are still trying to recover from its harmful blow. -
National Debt
To this day, the United State's national debt has continued to rise at an alarming rate. It can be seen here: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ -
GDP (Part 2)
This is a very effective way in seeing what the economy was like for the US during different time periods. We can see how much we have improved or declined compared to those times. By using this we can also see how long a recession lasts. An example of this would be the U.S. recession from 1973-1975. Every recession also has a negative effect of the GDP. -
GDP (Part1)
The GDP is one of the main ways to find out how strong an economy is. It shows the total dollar value of all goods and services produced quarterly. This could be from either wealth earned or spent. The GDP Is mostly used to see how much a country's economy has grown over time. Any change within the GDP has great effect on the people in that country, as well as the stock market. The GDP is also a main factor in telling whether or not a countrie's economy is in a recession.