As we suspended our lives in the wake of a global pandemic – many people compared the economic severity to The Great Depression. Millions were stuck at home, leaving behind a trail of company closers, all-time unemployment, and personal trauma. As everyone is thinking, “What’s next?”, The New Deal is a badge of hope and possibility.

President Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, like the creation of the Social Security Administration, jumpstarted the mid 1900 economy. The New Deal is the gold standard for how Government should react to national emergency. As it made America more economically equitable, and helped America prosper in the long run. It was measured as a great success, because it was experimental from a policy stand points – Brave, risky, empathetic, and transparent to American people.

The Federal government funded relief, jobs, and infrastructure. It established new policies and systems – national retirement system, unemployment insurance, disability benefits, minimum wages and maximum hours, public housing, mortgage protection, electrification of rural America, and the right of industrial labor to bargain collectively through unions.

Unfortunately the economics of today are vastly different then close to a century ago. What we can take away is the intangibles that made the New Deal successful:

THE TAKE AWAY: 

1. “Set aside ideology, for experimentation” – don’t let biases and political lines discourage different problem solving and thinking. 

2. Focus on the needs of ordinary workers.

3. Cultivate unity and empathy →  to create a strong coalition.

During one of the bleakest times in recent history, COVID-19 – The New Deal symbolizes seizing opportunity in a crisis. And working amongst each other to create lasting economic security.

My Resource: The Atlantic – The Lessons of the Great Depression