Whenever a new president ascends into power every citizen awaits with eagerness on his inaugural address to the public. It is on this day when the president delivers his/her speech on what citizens should expect from them.
As, I sat down to listen on the FDR’s speech over the radio, and being one of the unemployed labor in the country, I did hope that a better future was on the way. At this time the economy was experiencing depression, many were jobless, the demand for farm produce was very low and inflation was souring making lives difficulty for the common man.
FDR is known to be opportunistic and ever believes in fighting any problem without any fear, something which his predecessors never achieved. The president brought hope and increased confidence to people when he assured them that, the country would endure this difficulty time as it had done before. He asked citizens to understand the situation, show a sense of patience and give him support to conquer these problems.
“Unemployment situation comes about when a person is available to work and currently seeking work, but the person is without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed” (Malinvaud 12).
If a country’s national income is low, then the saving rate is low translating to low investment, when investment rate is down then, unemployment increases. His first promise to the people was to put the jobless people to work. He understood the fact that, the economy was facing unemployment crisis and put forward measures to curtail the problem.
The government has the responsibility of providing jobs to her citizens. The president promised a direct recruitment by the government as the first step in addressing the problem. He further promised to start more projects and employ the plenty of natural resources which were underemployed. The establishment of more projects will give the jobless something to do while utilizing the idle resources provided by nature.
The president called for redistribution of the population and public resources. He recognized that, the industrial sector had been over populated, and taking people to land would increase value of output while the cities would provide ready market for the output. He called for reduction in cost of maintaining the state, federal and local authority. As a result, taxes on income will be reduced; domestic savings will be high hence increased domestic investments. A high tax on income overcrowds investment.
FDR advocates for supervision and control on banking and other financial organizations. This would restore confidence in people on their banks. More people will save in bank which in return will provide credit to investors, hence increasing domestic investment. This will mean more businesses, more output and enough jobs. Circulation of money in public should be in line with country’s GDP. If more money chases few goods, inflation will sour up increasing the rate of unemployment. If inflation is checked, investment and growth will be facilitated, and in long run employment will be high.
On my opinion the president’s approach in eradicating unemployment is viable. With proper mechanism, government commitment and understanding of the task before her will meet the expectation of the public on employment.
Works cited
Malinvaud Edmond, The theory of unemployment reconsidered, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1977. 12.