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The 1920s are believed to be a time of unbelievable economic boom in American history. During this decade, the economy of mass production thrived, as well as mass consumption. In his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Harding promised a return to normalcy by the renewal of the practice of public economy, the relief of tax burdens and stimulation of thrift and economy in private life . However, the reliability of such promises still remains a controversial issue.
There are several reasons to question the economic success of this decade. The first reason is an apparent crisis in some businesses. For instance, during the First World War, farmers were supported by the government who subsidized farm prices. However, after the war, governmental funding was stopped, unlike production. Such a disparity forced farmers to sell their products abroad, where, unfortunately, foreign prices lowered the domestic ones.
The overproduction has led to income loss and inevitable debts[1]. Moreover, the technological breakthrough indicated the fall of the outdated industries, forcing people who worked in those factories to look for new jobs. The coal business suffered because of the discovery of petroleum as a new type of fuel. The industry of cotton fabrics suffered the same fate due to the production of new synthetics.
The President played a significant role in economic changes during those years, especially when it came to government spending. Beginning with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, Warren Harding started the procedure of managing the federal budget. In only two years, he cut the expenditures and taxes nearly in half (Scott et al. 2017, 716). Although it was a significant achievement, it did not help the market. Thus, 1929 was marked by the stock market crash, the period when businessmen had to sell their companies and citizens lost their life savings. This event later led to the Great Depression, which was the darkest crisis in U.S. history[2].
In conclusion, it would appear that even though the 1920s were characterized as the years of economic boom, some people suffered a great deal of loss during the decade. Such a rapid change in economics caused many unpredictable outcomes and by no means did this appear as a return to normalcy, as Harding once promised.
References
Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd J. Pfannestiel, Paul S. Vickery, and Oral Roberts. US history. OpenStax, Rice University. 2017.
Reed, Lawrence W. Great Myths of the Great depression. Mackinac Center. 2008.
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