The Political and Economical Events' Similarities in the Period of 1990s-2000s and 1930-1960s

Mohammad K. Al-asaad
Dr. Abdulla Al-Dagamseh
English 652
29th December 2012
First Draft
The Political and Economical Events' Similarities in the period of 1990s-2000s and 1930-1960s
Looking at America through the media I thought that America was built on the basis of equality and justice between its people, or at least America can hold the freedom ideas for generations. That can't be totally true, by tracing the history of America one can find that it was full of injustice, beginning of slavery that supposedly was abolished in 1860s, to the great Depression, reaching the world war two, that according to some readings America entered it to get rid of its Great Depression, reaching the events of segregation and social discrimination between white and black, and the killing of Martin Luther King, reaching the so called the end of the segregation period in 1964. Nowadays America, America claims that it holds up the same ideas of liberty of the old days, the ideas that that liberated America of slavery and injustice, these same ideas have lead America to the same consequences that lead America to a close consequence to the Great Depression, and to the so called the " War Against Terror". These similar acts of 1930s done a reverse catastrophe to the economy of America leading to the almost bankrupting of the country. In my research paper I argue that America didn't and will not change the its policies toward anyone who is not American, also I argue that the same economical procedures that America did in the past that led to the Great Depression in 1930s, are the exact same one that lead to the Great Rescission between 2007-2009 and the effects of it is still appearing on the economy of America till now. The Great Depression was the main event in 1930s. The main cause of the Great Depression was the decline in spending which led to the " decline in production as manufacturers and merchandisers noticed an unintended rise in inventories", the source of the declining in spending is due to many reasons throughout the Great Depression, and the American decline was shifted to the rest of the world through the "gold standards"(Encyclopedia Britannica). Many reasons behind the Great depression were due the government political polices; according to Burton Folsom in his article "Our Economic Past: Comparing the Great Depression to the Great Recession " says that the "Federal Reserve" raised the interest high which led to the " choke off investments" also " President Hoover signed into law the sky-high Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which stifled trade and damaged American exports throughout the 1930s" (Folsom)*. Furthermore, The reason that made the Great Depression to shift throughout the world and especially in Europe is that the relation between the American economy and the European economy; America was the main creditor and financier of post war Europe, since their economy were weakened by the war, by war debits, and for some countries, like Germany, by the need to pay war reparations. So once the American's economy went into this economical crisis, that led it's investment credits to Europe to dry up, which led also to the collapsing of their economies as well. The Great Depression didn't end until America entered the World War II; the numbers of unemployment during the great depression reached to 25% according to, and fell down dramatically to 1.4% in 1944, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Many poets addressed this issue, The Great Depression, Langston Hughes was an African American poet, who mainly talked about politics and social injustice, he addressed also the Great Depression that happened in his country that lead to world war II. He wrote many poems that tackled the Great Depression, such as " Goodbye Christ" and " Ballad of Roosevelt". Langston Hughes In his poem "Ballad of Roosevelt", in which he wrote in 1934, addressed Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) for the unfulfilled promises of taking out the country from the swamps of poverty, unemployment and social in justice ; The pot was empty, The cupboard was bare. I said, Papa, What’s the matter here? I’m Waitin' on Roosevelt, son, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Waitin' on Roosevelt, son. (1-5) This stanza shows how much poor were the families and how much hope they put into their President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), despite of the poor conditions, but still they believe that the President will fulfill the promises he did for the Americans, and especially the African Americans. Another Part of his poem shows that the frustration that the Americans had faced saying ; "And a lot o' other folks What’s hungry and cold Done stopped believin' What they been told By Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Roosevelt— Cause the pot’s still empty, And the cupboard’s still bare, And you can’t build a bungalow Out o' air— Mr. Roosevelt, listen! What’s the matter here?"(42-53)
These last two stanzas, Langston Hughes, wants to say that despite the promises that Roosevelt did about how he will improve the financial statues of America, the Pots are still empty and nothing has changed. The toe he uses when he said " Mr. Roosevelt, listen! /What’s the matter here?" shows how much they are feed up with his promises, and they ask for changes. In 1939, America finished the Great Depression era by America entering the World war two; according to Marilyn Geewax, and the country was back into prosperity; the unemployment rates went down from 25% to 1.4%. in 1944. In 1950s the poverty rates reached its highest , according to the National Poverty Center, 22.4% and declined in the 1960s and 1970s to 11.1% to 12.6% which is almost 22.9 individuals who suffered from poverty. However, the Social injustice and racism remind in the society, and many poets addressed this issue, one of them is Philip Levine, who started to work in a car manufacturing plants at the age of 14 and he witnessed many of the working class bad conditions, he also tried to record them in his poetry, and he wrote a poetry book, What Work is, in which he depicted , showed and recorded in his poems the harsh working environments that the American have suffered during that time. One of his poems is " What Work Is", in which he recorded the unemployment lines that were at his time, saying that working in his time was Shifting from one foot to another […] to the hours wasted waiting, to the knowledge that somewhere ahead a man is waiting who will say ,'No, we're not hiring today, ' for any reason he wants."(What Work Is)
This poem was published in 1991 in his book What Work Is, however it shows his experience in 1950s which is almost a decade after the end of the Great Depression, and nothing has changed since Langston Hughes's time. The Great Depression that led to the unemployment were not the only factors that hovered above America at that time, racism was a major issue in America too, the segregation and the discrimination that African Americans suffered from. Langston Hughes addressed this issue too in him poetry, the " Negro", Ku Klux Klan" and "Christ in Alabama" didn’t end until the Civil Right Movement worked on a law to abolish the segregation in America, and it was signed by President Johnson in 1964 and the segregation between black and white were abolished. The Events that happened during the 1930s , 1940s,1950s and 1960s are quite similar to the recent events. The same events but with a less impact on the society, similar to the 1930s the Great Depression, there was the Great Rescission, that began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, it happened because of the same political and economical greed that caused the Great Depression; too many Bankers lending money irresponsibly, which led biggest decline in the Daw Jones Industrial, an average of 53.8%. Also, the unemployment rates between in 2007 and 2009 raised to reach as high as 10% , ten times higher than it was 1944. A Major reason behind the Great Rescission in 2007 was the war on terror which cost America, according to the Brown University in its report about the cost of war against terror, between 3.2 to 4 trillion U.S dollars after 9/11 events. The Circulating economical events of the past are quite similar to the present due to the same policies that America have used in the past and the future. Another thing that America has still have is the discrimination against non Americans, this time instead of the African Americans. The event of 9/11 cause America to increase the its awareness of the non Americans, especially Muslims because they are the main cause of the explosions of the two towers, thought that might be true, but acting according to a stereotypical way toward Muslims saying that they are terrorists, could be an act of discrimination. America Justified her war on terror on Afghanistan by the events of 9/11, as a just war. causing the death of thousands of innocents in Afghanistan. Martin Espada, one of few poets who addressed this war and addressed the 9/11 events, challenging the official story of the war against terrorists. He wrote "Ghazal for Open Hands" in 2003, he reveled a bright image about the Muslims in Afghanistan, and that the Americans pays for a war against terror while it is against innocent people; " We listen to Islamic prayers at the cemetery, as we pay for bombs/ to blossom into graves in places where they pray with open hands." (Ghazal For Open Hands), he also shows the injustice against the Muslims who suffered of the America's war against terror. The endless cycle of the American political and economical policies that led America to the Great Depression and later to World War two, are the same policies that led America to the war against terror and later on the Great Recession. This leads us back to Langston Hughes poem in his prophetic poem " Let America be America Again", in which he asks for America to become the true America that hold the liberty thoughts and ideas, he asks America to become the torch and beacon for the freedom. His views of America that it was not the land of freedom, America was built on greed and profits not on free chances and free wages. O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this 'homeland of the free.'"(11-16) America's ideas of liberation, freedom, equality and justice , for Langston Hughes was only perceived but were never born. In the final part of his poem he gives a little hope for America to be born and again saying that " America will be!" the Land of freedom and the people who will make "America again". More than seventy four years have passed since Hughes's poem, America isn't changed, America still the land of unjust, the land of anti liberty and the land of shackling and Suffocating the freedom of others for the sake of a greater America.

Work cited
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Geewax, Marilyn. "Did The Great Recession Bring Back The 1930s?." NPR. NPR, 11 2012. Web. 29 Dec 2012. <http://www.npr.org/2012/07/11/155991507/did-the-great-recession-bring-back-the-1930s>.
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