4 replies to this topic

[Murphy]

Describe the growth of the welfare state under the New Deal.

[Joanne]

Murphy, on Sep 10 2005, 12:27 PM, said:

Describe the growth of the welfare state under the New Deal.

The New Deal was not the seminal moment of the welfare state in the US, but this was by far the era in which expansion seemed nearly unstoppable.

First of all, the collapse of the banking system and the crash of wealth across the country provided the best conditions for unrestrained participation of government as the great rectifier of private sector wrongs.

In this atmosphere, FDR and his Congress began with relief programs, under the guise of the government agency known as FERA. (Federal Emergency Relief Administration). From here, money in the form of grants was redirected to mostly public infrastructure projects, to teachers, musicians and writers as well as to the elderly, disabled, blind and mothers with young children.

This then begot the Civilian Conservation Corps which put young men to work in a disciplined environment while working on outdoor projects; then the Public Works Administration and Civil Works Administration. Yet, in spite of these programs, there was still a national rate of unemployment of 14%, FDR passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act which gave rise to the Works Progress Administration to hire some of the unemployed.

In the same year (1935), after appointing a committee to articulate a national social security system, Congress passed the Social Security Act. Even towards the end of the New Deal, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed and that initiated a minimum wage and terms for weekly hours and overtime.

Although not part of the decade of the 1930's, the GI Bill (Serviceman's Readjustment Act) was passed in 1945. Although the participation rate in this program was smaller than in the previous ones, and it had a time limit, it still perpetuated the series of legislative acts that implicitly supported income redistribution.

[Murphy]

Yes. There was also plenty of "support" for agriculture, though I can't remember which agency handled this.