The Great Depression and New Deal

[wds id=”1″]

 

Periodic Table of FDR's NEW DEAL

Arguments Against the New Deal

(1) As the New Deal administration spent huge amounts on various projects, the national debt greatly increased. As against $ 22,539,000,000 in’ 1933 it rose to $ 44,458,000,000 in 1940. The lavish spending on the part of the Federal Government undermined the virtues of thrift and initiative. In the 19th century the hard-pressed American had gone West, now they went on relief.

(2) The expansion of government activities inevitably led to the expansion of bureaucracy. As most of the new entrants to the civil services lacked the requisite merit, it led to inefficiency in administration.

(3) By pampering the labour and the farmer, the New Deal administration sharpened the class consciousness.

(4) The problem of unemployment which the New Deal wanted to solve, assumed serious dimensions as a result of New Deal policies. In 1940 the number of the unemployed stood at 7,000,000.

(5) Too much interference by the government in the economic sphere destroyed the independence and enterprise of the American private enterprise.

(6) In spite of twenty billion dollars being poured in six years by the administration, the gap between production and consumption continued to grow further.

The farm surplus instead of dwindling mounted still higher under Roosevelt. (7) The stimulus provided to the industry by the enormous government (pending was only a farce because as soon as the government cut down its (pending (as it did in 1937) the country once again relapsed into recession.

(8) The New Deal Administration tampered with the Constitution and greatly extended the powers of the Federal Government by encroaching on reserved for the state government and property rights of the citizens.

(9) The laws enacted to help the farmers no doubt improved the lot of the farmers but the conditions of the agricultural labourers and share crop­pers became all the more worse.