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U.S. History 1877-Present 8.7: The New Deal: Social Security Act 44 Views
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Description:
Apparently, you can't become the hero of the working class without ticking off a Rockefeller.
Transcript
- 00:04
The first hundred days were definitely a major political achievement
- 00:07
so yay for FDR on that one but recovery was still agonizingly slow the economy
- 00:14
was limping along like a marathon runner who forgot to stay hydrated as FDR [Marathon runner struggling to run]
- 00:18
continued to get more pressure from the left by radicals like Huey Long, he
- 00:23
decided he'd better push for a second round of reform so in 1935 Roosevelt [Roosevelt stood outside the US congress building]
Full Transcript
- 00:28
pushed through his second round of reforms which he called the second new
- 00:32
deal some of the fun stuff FDR got passed included the Wagner National [Scroll of paper with the Wagner National Labor Relations Act written on]
- 00:37
Labor Relations Act which guaranteed the right of workers to form unions and
- 00:41
fueled the greatest boom in a union membership in American history FDR also
- 00:46
expanded the WPA creating even more government jobs for the people most [A forge worker hard at work]
- 00:51
important in the long run was the Social Security Act this one was and is a big
- 00:57
deal well before Social Security all but a very few very wealthy Americans had [Wealthy American citizens at a retired millionaires club meeting]
- 01:02
ever dreamt of retirement or they thought of it in the same way they did
- 01:06
er unicorns. well social security also provided unemployment insurance and
- 01:10
welfare for fatherless children and their mothers before social security all [starving homeless children sat down]
- 01:14
these people would soon find themselves homeless and starving and yeah, America had
- 01:19
seen enough of starving people on the streets begging for money still today
- 01:22
one of the most popular government programs ever instituted Social Security
- 01:26
forever changed the relationship between the free market the American people and [Social Security, Capitalism and US government logo beside a US citizen]
- 01:30
their government the final piece of the second new deal was a tax reform bill
- 01:34
that unleashed a largely symbolic attack upon the wealthy admitting in private
- 01:39
that the wealth tax of 1935 was aimed at was stealing Huey Long Thunder Roosevelt [Roosevelt discussing the wealth tax of 1935]
- 01:45
boosted the top marginal tax rate for those earning more than five million
- 01:49
dollars to a whopping seventy-nine percent what's hilarious is that this
- 01:54
new tax bracket was populated by exactly one person John D Rockefeller so yeah [Piece of paper showing the population of people afflicted by the Wealth Tax of 1935]
- 01:59
the new tax didn't really have much of an impact however it was highly
- 02:03
successful in seriously ticking off John D one congressman accurately [Congressman discussing political matters]
- 02:08
described attacks as a hellraiser not a revenue raiser more than ninety five
- 02:13
percent of American families continue to pay no federal income tax whatsoever and
- 02:17
even taxpayers at the 99th percentile had tax rates of only five percent still
- 02:24
Roosevelt's supposed to soak the rich plan at its desired political effect by [Roosevelt and Huey Long stood outside the White House]
- 02:29
taking the wind out of Huey Long's much more aggressive share the wealth
- 02:32
movement by the end of this second wave of reforms FDR status as a hero of the [Framed picture of FDR as hero of the working class]
- 02:36
working class was cemented on the other hand the tycoon class permanently
- 02:40
branded him as a traitor who was doing everything in his power to destroy the [John D Rockerfeller spray painting traitor on a picture of FDR]
- 02:44
country forever the mega-rich William Randolph Hearst even called FDR a
- 02:47
communist and dubbed the President as Stalin Delano Roosevelt, cute name. FDR [Randolph Hearst calling FDR Stalin Delano Roosevelt]
- 02:53
later suggested that Hearst get one of the writers from the WPA to help Hearst
- 02:57
write his insults Stalin Delano Roosevelt yeah this wasn't that snappy [Hearst asking a writer to create insults]
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