Thresholds economy (for sources) Flashcards
wartime years … national income, wealth & industrial production …
1941-45
more than doubled
by … full employment
1945
(1955) working & middle class Ams tended to buy … = … average family income
Chevrolets & Fords
~2/5
by … … Ams owned at least 1 car
1960
75%
companies changed styles & facilities e.g. … -> during 50s … cars discarded every year
colours, chrome-painted metal parts, white-walled tyres, air con
~7mil
(cars) wealthy white men favoured …
Lincolns & Cadillacs
Detroit = hub - …
General Motors, Ford & Chrysler
(~50s) … Ams worked in industry related to car manufacture
1 in 7
on-the-road culture = … first Holiday Inn, by … … McDonald’s
1952
1960
228
first Levittown in … … -> by … … Ams in suburbs
Long Island
1947
1970
80mil
National Interstate & Defences Highway Act … = … year … programme to create network … interstate highways
1956
10
$25bn
42,500 miles
… white-collar workers (associated with …) outnumbered blue-collar for first time
1956
office work & service industries
1960 2x as many women in work as … & … all women over … held job
1940
40%
16
Korean War … -> defence spending = …
1950-53
‘military-industrial complex’
1960 … more purchasing power than …
30%
1950
… Life magazine = teenagers owned … record players & spent … on entertainment in …
1959
10mil
over $1.5bn
1958
(~50s) teenagers = … glasses ice cream per year
145mil
(~50s) … 18-19 year old girls married
1/3
Federal Housing Administration & Veteran Administration offered mortgages up to … & up to … to pay back at low interest
90%
30 years
… … = first credit card
1950
Diner’s Club
by … mail order company … had … customers bought on credit
1960
Sears Roebuck
10mil
‘Sun Belt’ cities = …
Dallas, San Diego, LA, Houston, Miami
by 1960 median income white family …, non-white family …
~$5,800
~$3,200
escape rural poverty & racial discrim = USA’s largest … cities gained … non-white residents in 50s
12
18mil
recessions: …, … & …
1974-75
1980
1981-82
*(70s) inflation average … … -> … …
8.2%
1973-83
13.4%
1980
(70s) … poll = … Ams considered inflation greatest concern
1978
63%
*(70s) unemp … by …
8.9%
May 1975
(70s) Rust Belt = previously well-paid -> unemp e.g. … & …
car manufacturing in Detroit
steel production in Pennsylvania
(70s) manufacturing provided … jobs Pennsylvania in … -> … in …
46%
1951
24%
1977
(70s) … world’s pop US consumed … world’s oil production = … had to be imported
6%
1/3
~30%
*Yom Kippur War … = global oil prices rose …, Am. consumers paid … more for heating oil & petrol
1973
4x
~30%
(70s) … gas shortages = closure schools/factories, fuel stations cut hours
winter 1976-77
… Islamic revolution in Iran = oil … a barrel … -> … in …
1979
$3
1973
$34
1979
(70s) US still produced … world’s goods but … (period) industrial productivity only rose … - W Germany & Japan …
25%
1972-78
1%
4-5%
(70s) competition - Japanese electronics …, European electronics … & European aerospace technology …
Hitachi, Sony, Toshiba
Philips & Siemens
Sud Aviation
… 3rd biggest car company … needed … gov. bailout
1980
Chrysler
$1.5bn
((70s)trade defecit … by …)
~$40bn
1978-79
(F) WIN (…) … - voluntary measures
Whip Inflation Now
1974
(F) Energy Policy & Conservation Act …
1975
(C) Public Works Act … = … public works programme & expanded tax credits for low income families with children
1977
$4bn
(C) National Energy Plan … & National Energy Act … tried radical proposals e.g. … = Senators rejected much as not consulted, hostility business community, voters didn’t want to change lifestyles
1977
1978
higher taxes on large cars, oil conservation, alternative power sources
(C) Dep of Energy … = speed limits & alternative energy -> US energy consumption fell … …
1977
10%
1979-83
(C) Airline Deregulation Act … abolished …, same principle applied to …
1978
Civil Aeronautics Board
lorry & communications industry
(C) Paul Volcker appointed to … … = interest rates raised to …
Fed Reserve Boards
1979
20%
1980 stagflation = unemp …, inflation averaging …, fed debt …
7.5%
12-13%
$73.8bn
(R) Omnibus Reconciliation Act … cut gov spending on … programmes
1981
over 300
(R) social spending fell average annual rate …
1.5%
(R) homeless inc … to …
200,000
400,000
(R) by … fed defence expenditure = … GDP
1983
23.5%
(R) fed defence expenditure … in …, … in …
~$700bn
1980
~$860bn
1987
(R) … … new jobs created, real GNP grew … …
1980-88
16mil
11% 1980-84
R budget defecit … that of predecessors & national debt inc … to … during presidency
over 5x
$1 trillion
$2.6 trillion
1988 inflation …, unemp …
4.7%
5.2%
(R) … … new jobs created, real GNP grew … …
1980-88
16mil
11%
1981-84
(R) Economic Recovery Act … = cut individual & corporate taxes
1981
(R) Tax Reform Act … lowered top rate taxation …, raised bottom rate …
1986
50% to 28%
11% to 15%
(R) cut staff regulatory agencies …
25%
(R) deregulated savings & loan industry -> econ crash …
1989-90
… members of PATCO (…) on strike … against deregulation -> refused R’s demand to return to work within … = R sacked all
11,300
Professional Air Traffic Controllers
1981
48 hours
R appointed … conservatives to judiciary
over 400
J spending … = … on Great Society, … V War
1965-73
$15.5bn
$120bn
*N … EPA (…) & OSHA (…)
1970
Environmental Protection Agency
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
N New Economic Policy … = first peacetime wage freeze
1971
C criticism of striking miners …
1977
by 1992 fed budget deficit …
$400bn
(B) … fed income tax raised … to …
1990
28%
31%
Bush cut military & domestic expenditure …
$492bn
(Bush) Fed Reserve Board lowered interest rates to … = not enough to counter effects recession
3.5%
(Bush) NAFTA = …
North American Free Trade Agreement
Bush … num receiving support from Head Start
doubled