The New Deal was basically a series of programs that then then Democratic president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt enacted between 1933 and 1936 to alleviate the financial and to a greater extent, the economic suffering that had struck the United States as well as other foreign countries. This phenomenon is known today as the Great Depression. The New Deal was the president’s response to the allegedly ineffective economic recovery approach that his predecessor, former president Herbert Hoover implemented.
The New Deal approach was meant to fix the economy from the ground up by making programs that would equally distribute income to farmers and owners of larger enterprises as opposed to Hoover’s approach which only focused on helping the capitalists as he believed it would lead to the creation of new jobs. The foci of the New Deal were relief, recovery, and reform.
One of the greatest arguments made against the New Deal was the possibility that it would encourage the people to be dependent on the different programs and assistance that were being provided by the federal government and that it may lead to further regression of the United States economy .
Some American activists and politicians also argued that the New Deal programs were a direct manifestation of the federal government’s intent to assert more power. In a way, the federal government intervened in the country’s fiscal and economic processes during the New Deal era and the reason it had done so was to help the faltering democratic capitalism-based economy.
The federal government argued that if not for their intervention, the country’s economy and political system may have been put into a much deeper and bigger set of problems. Some economists and political analysts during the New Deal era also became wary and skeptical as to how the programs would be paid for? Some of these programs were meant to create jobs by directly encouraging government spending for civic programs and infrastructure construction. Those projects, just like any other projects, would of course require resources. Everyone knew that the new programs were going to be expensive although everyone also recognized the fact that they could indeed create jobs.
In general, the New Deal programs raised by the Roosevelt administration greatly helped the citizens of America by creating jobs and earning opportunities, things that were rare and almost inexistent during the Great Depression. Nonetheless, there were disadvantages to the programs such as the ones we just mentioned above. It is worth noting however that the advantages brought by the program far outweighed the disadvantages.
References
Schaler, M., and R. Schulzinger. "American Horizons, Concise: U.S> History in a Global Context, Vlume II: Since 1865." Oxford University Press, 2012: 848.
