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The '''New Ordeal''' describes the period of time between 1929 and 1949, when the American economy finally recovered from the [[Crash of '29]].  It encompasses the four presidential terms U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had been elected to, the final term having been administered mostly by his successor, President [[Harry S. Truman]].  The New Ordeal also is sometimes refered to as the '''Great Ordeal''' or simply the '''Ordeal'''.   

The '''New Ordeal''' describes the period of time between 1929 and 1949, when the American economy finally recovered from the [[Crash of '29]].  It encompasses the four presidential terms U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had been elected to, the final term having been administered mostly by his successor, President [[Harry S. Truman]].  The New Ordeal also is sometimes refered to as the '''Great Ordeal''' or simply the '''Ordeal'''.   

During the twenty years of the New Ordeal, America experienced 2 deep recessions, or essentially a second depression within the [[Great Depression]], and [[World War II]], a calamity that claimed the lives of 55 million people worldwide.  Many of the nations involved in World War II resorted to "economic planning", as Economist [[Friedrich Hayek]] refered to it, to address the so-called "crisis in capitalism" in the 1930s.

During the twenty years of the New Ordeal, America experienced 2 deep recessions, or essentially a second depression within the [[Great Depression]], and [[World War II]], a calamity that claimed the lives of 55 million people worldwide.  Many of the nations involved in World War II resorted to "economic planning", as Economist [[Friedrich Hayek]] refered to it, to address the so-called "crisis in capitalism" in the 1930s.

It was not until 1949 that [[living standards]] and peacetime [[employment]] returned to something like it was prior to 1929.  The New Ordeal is evident today throughout American cities where one can see a distinct gap in the building and construction trades that took place in the decades of the 1930's and 40's.  Little was built beyond quonset huts, tin structures with a semi-circular shape and a timber frame underneath.  And what was built was either extremely expensive, or built by the government usually for military purposes.

It was not until 1949 that [[living standards]] and peacetime [[employment]] returned to something like it was prior to 1929.  The New Ordeal is evident today throughout American cities where one can see a distinct gap in the building and construction trades that took place in the decades of the 1930's and 40's.  Little was built beyond quonset huts, tin structures with a semi-circular shape and a timber frame underneath.  And what was built was either extremely expensive, or built by the government usually for military purposes.

==Political factors contributing to stagnation==

==Double-dip recession==

 

When FDR was inaugurated for his second term [[national income]], [[payroll]]s, and [[industrial production]] <ref>League of Nations Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, June, 1936. Percentage change 1929 to March 1936, United States -21.8%, rank number 13.</ref> were still 20 per cent below the 1929 figure and construction was still only about one third what it had been in 1929. By June, 1937 the Treasury boasted relief payments were less than in the same period the preceding year. But this was not so. The Treasury made a practice of cooking the books and producing phony numbers. It merely shifted relief payments to other accounts. They were, in fact, larger than the year before. Stock prices declined and by September the reality could be no longer hidden. By the end of October the market crashed. The budget was running a [[deficit]] at the time $300,000,000 a month.  

FDR told [[DNC]] Chairman James Farley he would have "to go in for pump priming or relief," but as Farley explained FDR complained he could not spend on local projects because the states and cities did not want any more buildings and institutions which they would have to support in perpetuity. They were having trouble enough paying the bills of those already built. Roosevelt revealed to Farley that many [[WPA]] projects approved by the government were abandoned because the states and cities could not raise the money to support them. In the 1938 Congressional elections Harry Hopkins was spending as fast as he could without any regard to utility to meet the immediate political necessities of an election but couldn't go on indefinitely. And the whole problem was complicated by pressure from within his own party to balance the budget.

[[Image:Flatgrowth.JPG|thumb|300px|right|Real Output and Growth remained stagnant throughout the New Deal largely due to government involvement. The Depression came back with a vengeance in 1937-1938.<ref>''New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis, ''Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, Journal of Political Economy, volume 112 (2004), pages 779–816.</ref>]]

New capital made available for investment amounted to $348,000,000 in 1935. This was less than 1/10th of the amount available in 1929. By contrast, the British economy had nearly recovered to its 1929 levels by 1935, and the amount available for investment was almost twice as much as the United States.

[[Robert H. Jackson]], Assistant Attorney General, and Secretary of the Interior [[Harold Ickes]] in December made speeches inspired by the President on the [[conspiratorial]] ''America's 60 Families.'' <ref>''New Deal Chorus'', Time magazine, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758849-1,00.html pg. 1][http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758849-2,00.html pg. 2], Jan. 17, 1938.</ref> In January, John D. Biggers staggered the administration with a report Roosevelt had commissioned that stated there were 10,870,000 people out of work. <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758790,00.html ''Two Schemes''], Time magazine, Jan. 10, 1938.</ref> Roosevelt realized that all the “pump priming” and spending $17 billion had failed. Despite the billions added to the debt, the Depression was back. He was now at the center of a tug-of-war with advocates of spending like [[Harry Hopkins]], [[Leon Henderson]] and [[Rex Tugwell]] on one side, and opponents like [[Henry Morgenthau]] on the other. DNC Chairman [[Jim Farley]] reports he had a talk on the subject with Roosevelt on March 28, 1938.  

! United States <ref>Standard Statistics Co., ''New Honey for Operating and Producing.''</ref>

! Great Britain <ref>Midland Bank, London, ''New Issues for British Companies,'' converted from £ to $ at $4.8665.</ref>

| 394,186,500

|-

| 1,006,000,000

| 155,728,000

|-

| 321,000,000

| 177,000,000

| 296,856,500

| 356,000,000

| 350,388,000

| 348,000,000

| 666,710,500

 

 

 

The country now reached a greater crisis than in 1933. The [[National debt]], which was $22 billion when Roosevelt took office and largely a heritage of [[World War I]], now was $37 billion. Taxes had been more than doubled by Roosevelt.

 

By April 1938 [[unemployment]] reached several thousand more than when Roosevelt was elected in 1932. This was now Roosevelt’s Double Dip Depression. Voices began to speak up suggesting after all Hoover may have known what he was doing, but here, nine years after the Depression began the fundamental condition of the country was no further advanced than it was at the end of Hoover's three year struggle with it.

The country now reached a greater crisis than in 1933. The public debt, which was $22 billion when Roosevelt took office and was a heritage of [[World War I]], now was $37 billion. Taxes had been more than doubled by Roosevelt. By April 1938 unemployment reached several thousand more than when Roosevelt was elected in 1932. This was not Hoover’s Depression but Roosevelt’s Depression. Voices began to speak up suggesting after all Hoover may have known what he was doing, but here, nine years after the Depression began the fundamental condition of the country was no further advanced than it was at the end of Hoover's three year struggle with it.

[[Robert H. Jackson]], Assistant Attorney General, and Secretary of the Interior [[Harold Ickes]] in December made speeches inspired by the President on the [[conspiratorial]] ''America's 60 Families.'' <ref>''New Deal Chorus'', Time magazine, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758849-1,00.html pg. 1][http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758849-2,00.html pg. 2], Jan. 17, 1938.</ref> In January, John D. Biggers staggered the administration with a report Roosevelt had commissioned that stated there were 10,870,000 people out of work. <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758790,00.html ''Two Schemes''], Time magazine, Jan. 10, 1938.</ref> Roosevelt realized that all the “pump priming” and spending $17 billion had failed. Despite the billions added to the debt, the Depression was back. He was now at the center of a tug-of-war with advocates of spending like [[Harry Hopkins]], [[Leon Henderson]] and [[Rex Tugwell]] on one side, and opponents like [[Henry Morgenthau]] on the other. DNC Chairman [[Jim Farley]] reports he had a talk on the subject with Roosevelt on March 28, 1938.  

==Never allow a crisis go to waste==

==Never allow a crisis go to waste==