20-3 The Business of America
pp. 601-605
Essential Question: In the 1920s was the country's prosperity superficial?
Subquestions:
a. How did consumer goods become the foundation of the business boom of the 1920s?
b. How was the landscape of America shaped by the automobile?
c. Which Americans were left out of the benefits of the 1920s?
d. What were the advantages and disadvantages of buying on credit?
EQ
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading through 20.3 one fact really caught my attention. "Americans owned around 40 percent of the world's wealth..." (Danzer 601) When thinking about whether or not America's wealth in the 1920's was superficial or not that statement might lead to to think that America's wealth was real. But in doing further research, I found that in 1929 that 40 percent that was owned by America was only controlled by about 1 percent of Americans. (Great Depression Facts) This means that only BIG business was doing well, since they were controlling the money. But then Danzer states "the iron and railroad industries, among others, really weren't prosperous..." Those are two big industries in the United States, and if THEY weren't even prosperous and they're the ones who are controlling the wealth, then the country's prosperity is superficial.
Sources:
The Americans
http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/
Awesome point about national wealth. I really like how you tie it to part of yesterday's discussion. (wait, that was a discussion in B period. Wow--you've got class-to-class ESP...even more impressive!)
ReplyDeleteI feel like the country's wealth was not as superficial as Jess made it out to be. Yes some of the largest industries like iron and railroad industries weren't prospering, and most of the wealth was in the top 1% of people, but that is still wealth. the railroads and iron were overshadowed by the new innovations of the time. their relative lagging in the economy doesn't mean not real prosperity. Henry ford was in his prime, pumping out an incredible 15,077,033 Model Ts alone. this is astounding for the 1920s. "The automobile became the backbone of the American economy." (Danzer 601) The need for petroleum products for gasoline and heating oil, as well as other fossil fuels to create electricity, caused a great increase in the need for labor and wealth was accumulated.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, our nation is still relativly prosperous, after the 2008 recession business has increase and people are beginning to see more of a positive flow of money. Here are some statistics about the distribution of wealth:
"As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth.
The next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%.
(which mean that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%)
Leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)."
(G. William Domhoff)
The same thing is happening today, the distribution of wealth is shockingly similar, and America is beginning to come out of some hard times and as a whole, we are making money, that is not superficial. this money is money for the country. It seems that prosperity is the same way through history in this country. At what point in history was the history not superficial. when big business booms, the whole economy motions upward.
Sources:
Danzer the Americans
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Subquestion A)
ReplyDeleteThe product that really started it was the Automobile. IN 1910 there were almost no car registrations. By 1930 there were about 10 million registrations in America. The automobile also caused urban sprawl. This now allowed people to live miles away from their job. The Airplane industry was also created. Airplanes were made to carry mail. Then it progressed to the development of weather forecasting and carrying some people (6-10). Gasoline powered the economic boom yet electricity was also used. the development of alternating electrical current made it possible to distribute electrical power by means of a transformer. Just to list a few there were other goods, radio, phonograph, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, and sewing machine. These goods all helped lead to the avergae factory worker producing 50% more at the end of the decade than at its start ( amazing!). ( Danzer 604). The goods also creating along with the business a self-perpetuating economic cycle for america.
All of these goods contributed to the business boom. The goods created allowed for more convenient living. Yet it also set grounds for economic growth. Because of the goods businesses were formed, new stocks were formed, people were employed, factories became more efficient, the installment plan was created( todays loaning system), and modern advertising was created.
sources:
The Americans by Danzer
http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture15.html
Upon reading the following statement in the book I was reminded of the the book Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete“One of those necessities was Listerine mouthwash. A 1923 Listerine advertisement made it seem so. The ad aimed to convince readers that without Listerine a person ran the risk of having halitosis - bad breath.” (Danzer 604)
The following quote from Freakonomics shows how advertising of Listerine changed the way that Americans thought about bad breath.
“Advertising too is a brilliant tool for creating conventional wisdom. Listerine, for instance, was invented in the nineteenth century as a powerful surgical antiseptic. It was later sold, in distilled form, as a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea. But it wasn’t a runaway success until the 1920s, when it was pitched as a solution for ‘chronic halitosis’ - a then obscure medical term for bad breath. Listerine’s new ads featured forlorn young women and men, eager for marriage but turned off by their mate’s rotten breath. ‘Can I be happy with him in spite of that?’ one maiden asked herself. Until that time. bad breath was not conventionally considered such as catastrophe. But Listerine changed that. As advertising scholar James B. Twitchell writes, ‘Listerine did not make mouthwash so much as it made halitosis.’ In just seven years, the companies revenues rose from $115, 000 to more than $8 million.” (Freakonomics 117)
The above quote also shows how successful this advertising was for the companies, $115,000 to $8 million is a 6856% increase in revenue. Mr. Twitchell even says that they were not making mouthwash but halitosis, because it was not a problem until Listerine made it one.
Below is a picture of an ad for Listerine talking about how women should break up with men because of this now inexcusable condition of having halitosis. Many of their ads feature people being left out because of halitosis or how they loose opportunities simply because they had bad breath. Now everybody wanted to buy Listerine to escape this offence even though it hadn’t been such a problem before.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-SBWn5XSYVM/SPIpqZUp72I/AAAAAAAAC1g/bI-iFQC0OcY/s1600-h/ListerineAdF.jpg
Sources:
The Americans
Freakonomics
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-SBWn5XSYVM/SPIpqZUp72I/AAAAAAAAC1g/bI-iFQC0OcY/s1600-h/ListerineAdF.jpg