Banking/Finance

1. Banking/Finance • Emergency Banking Act – shuts down all banks, re-organizes & reinforces them, then reopens them (Bank Holiday) • Economy Act – reduces federal salaries to reduce deficit • Federal Securities Act – sets up SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to regulate stock market, prevent reckless trading • Banking Act of 1933 – sets up FDIC to insure bank deposits up to $2500 • Banking Act of 1935 – FDIC covers up to $5000 in bank deposits (restore faith in banks) • Gold Reserve act – crime to possess or trade in gold – • gov’t buys up all gold, then melts it • US essentially abandons gold standard once and for all

2. Financial Relief • Revenue Act – raises taxes substantially on upper income brackets • Social Security Act – provides assistance for retirees, unemployed, families w/ dependant children, handicapped

3. Industry & Labor • National Industrial Recovery Act – creates NRA to regulate industries & set labor standards • Declared unconstitutional by SC, replaced by several programs • Fair Labor Standards Act – sets fed. Minimum wage, 40-hr work weeks, overtime pay, ends most child labor • National Labor Relations Act (aka Wagner Act) – protects rights of unions to organize, collective bargaining, and use of strikes • Sets up NLRB for arbitration – pro-union

4. Employment • CCC – provides jobs for over ½ million Americans • Construction jobs in rural areas • Planted trees, forestry projects, etc. • WPA – jobs in construction, arts, media • Employed over 3 million (largest employer in US) • TVA – built dams, provided irrigation, hydroelectric power in South • Also programs to modernize southern industry • Civil Works Admin. – temporary jobs to unemployed, mostly construction • NYA – work-study programs, part-time job training for teens/young adults • PWA – large scale construction projects

5. Agriculture • AAA – raise agri. prices by reducing supply • Subsidies to farmers • Declared unconst., but replaced by another AAA in 1938 • Farm Credit Act – helps farmers refinance at low rates • Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act – limits ability of banks to repossess farms • Taylor Grazing act – fed. Gov’t can regulate grazing to protect against overuse of land • Soil Conservation & Domestic Allotment Act – same as AAA • FCIC – Federal Crop Insurance Corp. – like FDIC for farmers – insures crops & livestock • Farm Security Admin. – educ./econ. Programs for struggling farmers

6. Housing • Home Owners Refinance Act – helps homeowners refinance, avoid foreclosure • Home Owners Loan Act – helps people get loans to buy homes • National Housing Act – gov’t standards for home-building, promotes mortgage loans • Resettlement Admin. – relocates struggling urban/rural families to planned communities • Helps tenant farmers, sharecroppers

7. Arts • Federal Art Project – commissions artists to make murals, paintings, posters in schools, hospitals, libraries • Federal Writer’s Project – commissions writers to make accounts of American folklore • Federal Theater Project – commissions dramatists/actors to put on stage production • All these designed to put $$ into economy, but also create artistic diversions from misery of depression • All these were under the WPA • They made the posters for the agencies

8. Various things • Communications Act – sets up FCC to regulate broadcasting • Also generates revenue by requiring radio (and later TV) stations to pay licensing fee • Public Utilities Holding Company act – federal regulation of public utilities, esp. electricity • Rural Electrification admin. – to bring elec. Power to rural areas • Bankhead Jones Act – more funding for land-grant colleges • Also allows fed gov’t to take over damaged lands, fix them, use for parks, etc. • Repeal of Prohibition (21st Amend.)