US History/Michelena

Read the scenarios below.  Circle the numbers of the ones that you would choose to solve the Great Depression:

1. The government should plan our economy.  With central planning by the government, the economy could grow without having periodic business depressions.  Such public goals as economic equality should, if necessary, be forced on business leaders.
2. The government should help businesses out in order to restore public confidence in the economy.  We should tax the rich business leaders less and give subsidies (aid) to businesses.  The businesses will use this help to expand production.  Then the businesses will hire more workers, and the economy will get moving again.  There should be a minimum of welfare for the poor, as this drains off money from the businesses.
3.  The government should bring businesses together and set up a planning agency, run by the government, to help the economy get going again.  Within the agency, the businesses would set up their own guidelines and regulations.  For example, they could charge higher prices and cooperate with each other rather than compete.  Of course, the government would watch over the agency, but the business leaders would run the agency.  Business leaders, with the central planning oversight of the government, know how to get the economy going again.
4. The government must balance the budget.  Almost all business leaders believe this is a healthy way to run both government and business.  Confidence will be restored in the economy.  Businesses will expand production, and the economy will get moving again.
5. The government must give much more welfare relief to the millions of people who are suffering from the Depression.  It is the obligation of government to protect its poorest citizens from such suffering.  The money to pay for the programs should come from heavier taxes on rich people.  If the poor have more money, they will buy more products and businesses will be able to expand.  In this way the country will get out of the Depression.
6. To get out of the Depression, the government should engage in deficit spending; that is, it should spend much more money than it takes in through taxes.  By pumping more money into the economy, the government would stimulate more spending by both consumers and businesses.  This would get the economy moving again.
7. The government should expand the military and start a huge arms build up.  This will create jobs for many millions of workers.  People will feel they are contributing to the strength of the nation, and businesses and government will cooperate to get the country out of the Depression.  People should be made to think of what is good for our nation, not just for themselves.
8. The workers should take over all the industries in the country.  The government, controlled by the common people, should abolish private ownership of businesses and bring about real equality.  As a result of this takeover, workers will no longer be exploited by the powerful businesses leaders but will be truly free. Only in this way can the country get out of the Depression and avoid future depressions.
9. Private charities should help the poor survive.  The government really has no legitimate role in aiding the poor.  In fact, government welfare causes people to lose the incentives to work, and thus destroys the moral fiber of the country.

Now, go back through and label each as conservative (Republican), liberal (Democratic), or Socialist. For each, underline the keys words that indicated the philosophy reflected by the scenario.

Hint:  Republican philosophy would be Hoover's philosophy. He believed that economic laws of supply and demand would eventually fix the economy. FDR would be a liberal Democrat who believed that the government's job was to intervene in the economy to fix the problems of the great depression. A socialist philosophy would be that of Karl Marx, where the workers should own land and all means of production. The government would direct the economy, and everyone would be entitled to free health care, old age pensions, and a job.