Increase in the overall level of prices of both goods and services in a specific economy, over a period of time. It is also a loss in the purchasing power of money, losing unit of account and the real worth of the internal medium of the economy. Every economy actually experiences this phenomenon. But some economies, experience this at a much greater levels, called hyperinflation.
The United States, like any other economies, have experienced inflation in its economic history. One of which is the 1970s peacetime inflation. After World War II, the economy is struggling to set a pace. This made it hard for the government to decide which monetary policies would be most appropriate to use. The government body duly constituted to examine and enact monetary policies that would help prevent an uncontrolled inflation is known as the Federal Reserve (DeLong 44). There is a normal rate of inflation annually any major deviation from this rate would mean an error in the part of the Federal Reserve.
By the start of 1969, the United States found had results on its economic experiment could a four percent or below unemployment rates possible without accelerating inflation It was clear that it did not work. The nominal wage growth of that year was at 6 percent, way higher than the average post-Korean War and mid-1960s which was at 4 percent. Data show that the average difference between price inflation and wage after Korean War 1950s and up to the late 1960s was at 1.5 percent. Given the gap in the data, it was obvious enough to dub the experiment a failure.
There were tons of political obstacles to be able to create a policy of disinflation in the early 1970s. Arthur Burns personally, did not believe that there would be a good use for monetary policies to control the inflation. His presidential address to the American Economic Association themed Progress toward Economic Stability, posed many prolific economic moves to be made not to mention the then current state of the economy. He said that there was an inflationary expectation causing an abnormally low bonds, interest rates sky-rocketing, wages and price increased.
Prior to World War II, Inflationary expectations and pressures it brings would have been wiped out by a severe recession plus by the pressure workers wages receive and manufacturers prices by the dropping aggregate demand. Burns, however, could not see how such pressures might be created in an environment in which the rational minds of workers and firms is to expect demand to continue being high while recessions be short.
Arthur Burns challenged the administration since day one of moving into the Chairmans office. A critic of the Kennedy-Johnson policy and Counselor to the President during the first year of the Nixon administration, Burns naturally opposed the wage-price guideposts. But something changed on the 18th of May, 1970. Burns himself called for Nixon to adopt an incomes policy aimed to reduce the time amid the dominance of excess demand while restoring the stability of prices. Surprised and somewhat irritated, some people were questioning that move of Burns. But he was not a bit concerned, for his vision was hugely aligned with the proposal. He actually gives the President little or no choice but to adopt it. Truly a political stumble is not needed by U.S. in recession, but concrete and pro-economy programs to help everyone. There was a complete lack of support by not only the White House, but also the congress, for a policy like that. Being conservative, Mr. Nixon chose to fight inflation anything but with the use of unemployment. Nixon believed there were alternatives, far better ones, to be used than to adopt the policy by Burns.
The 1974-1975 recessions has pushed the political nation into the trend of calling for reduction in unemployment, regardless of inflation (DeLong 84). Nearing the trough of the recession, Augustus Hawkins and Hubert Humphrey required diminishing the unemployment to 3 percent within four years since the start of the push, extending employment to all who wanted the same prevailing wage that Davis-Bacon legislated be rewarded on government construction projects. This was a fight for public image, if one has a lower unemployment rate, the other would be the slave of wall street. The hero would be the friend of mankind. It was a battle between Arthur Burns and the team of Augustus Hawkins and Hubert Humphrey. But Burns was bold enough not to be sucked into this game which to him was a no-win situation.
The only peacetime inflation in Americas history, the 1970s inflation was all about the uncertainty in prices that created a microscope to examine every move on monetary policy. The effects of inflation during these times were ranging from 5 to 10 inflation per year. It was almost equal to the inflation during the major wars of the century. It wasnt until the Chairman of the Federal Reserve finally stepped in to burst the inflation bubble of 1970. Paul Volcker took it into his hands to place an appropriate priority onto stopping inflation. Other objectives were put first, thus the policy makers were ready to take risk of increasing or non-declining in order to accomplish the other goals. Many believed, after the fact, that there was a miscalculation to the risks involved. Some said that it would have been better and achieved more goals if they had expended more of both of their institutional competence and political capital hoping to regulate inflation earlier.
At some level, it wasnt exclusively the fault of the 1970s government. Richard Nixon, Paul McCracken and Arthur burns were handed in not-so-pleasant economic policies of the 1960s. With bad luck coupled with bad policies, it was a disastrous inflation control of the 1970s. The problem of inflation in the 1970s was not nearly solved until the early 1980s. The Federal Reserve finally gained enough ground, mandated to keep the inflation rate below four percent. The entire decade was a push for the institution to garner power and have the freedom of action in order to control inflation.
In a deeper level, the Great Depression was still affecting the 1970s inflation. Even so, the people were confused for a while of the movement of the business cycle. The Great Depression made people believe that it moves around rather than a short fall below the level of sustainable employment and production. It wasnt until the 1970s that economists and policy makers were persuaded that the frictional and structural unemployment were far more than their current numbers (DeLong 121). And in the 1970s, economists and policy makers were faced with the political cost of high inflation, even high single-digit inflation, were very high.
After these two were understood by the mass American political opinion, the Federal Reserve was finally given the mandate to do whatever was necessary to control inflation. But it was still no visible and swift alternative policy that could have sustained a disinflation given a milieu of an average unemployment rate of three percent could be noted as a non-perfectionist goal.
It was due to dissatisfaction and unease during the decades inflation that had pushed for the mandate to regulate inflation at the possibility of unemployment. Also, the freedom enjoyed by the Federal Reserve was not deemed to happen if it wasnt for the lesson of damaging inflation in the 1970s. The Federal Reserve did not have any form of mandate to repulse inflation by triggering short-term unemployment at the end of the 1960s. William McChesney Martin failed on what Paul Volcker was able to accomplish as the chair of the Federal Reserve, the courage and determination to fight for what should be, not always relying on the status quo. Undeniably, Volcker have done a special job in forming the Federal Reserve as noted today.
Write an essay in which you describe the waves of social movements that took place in the 60s and 70s and discuss their ongoing legacy within the context of American political, social, and cultural life.
Several major movements were founded prior to the counterculture during the 1960s. Each of those movements was related to the larger counterculture of the 1960s up to the 1970s. The United States had a population of about 178 million in the 1960s. This decade was considered to be age of the youth (Anderson 12). The conservative ways from the fifties were replaced by the revolutionary thinking and genuine change in the American culture. Young adults were the majority of the population at about 70 million. Different social movements began in this decade. They were used as strategies by institutions and the people in order to push several social changes. These movements were founded for certain purposes. Most movements began non-institutionally even if their main goal is to have a change from the political system or institution of the country. The young adults of the 1960s aimed for changes.
Numerous scholars from this era deemed that the counterculture movement in the United States was at peak during the years from 1965 to 1974. The movements varied in different matters from sexual backgrounds, Vietnam War, consumerism, conventional means of authority, womens rights and freedoms, race relations, and illegal drug substances such as marijuana. Psychedelic or pop music also emerged reflecting the young adults cultures stress on experimentation and revolution. As the 1960s was one of the most active decades for social movement, social revolutions and counterculture was seen drastically in the country. The people sought for a superior individual freedom and to surpass from all the social constraints dictated by the government. The latter years of the 1960s certainly illustrated the desires of the young adults to repel the conservative standards and customs of that time. The revolutionary youth wanted to eliminate the soaring degree of materialism that was prevailing during that era. Such rebellion led to the establishment of a counterculture which generated the social revolution all through the western cultures. This social movement arose as a response in opposition to the conservatism and social traditionalism in the 1950s as well as the governments wide-ranging military interference in Vietnam.
Equal rights to all citizens of the United States were the main objective of the American Civil Rights Movement. This social movement was a significant factor in the larger counterculture movement of the country. The American Civil Rights movement promoted nonviolence as it advocated for the rights of many African Americans. The restoration of Suffrage in the Southern side of the United States was also part of the reform movements. The Civil Rights Movement began in the year 1955 and was continued by the Black Power movement until the 1970s. These social movements incorporated political and economic independence, freedom from oppression, and ethnic dignity in their purposes as well. Government groups and authorities had much conflict with the activists whove demonstrated civil defiance and several acts of passive protests. Boycotts were the common forms of civil insubordination during the movement. The Civil Rights movement produced remarkable changes in the American society in that decade.
In 1964, the Free Speech Movement began at Berkeley, California, originating on a college campus much similar to all the other countercultures of the 1960s. Since it was in a university, students were the most active participants in the movement. Other young people who were rebellious at heart also played a part in the Free Speech Movement. The movement was a significant incident for the social movement of the 1960s. This movement is believed to be where student activism originally began.
The Hippies, or the young adults who were involved in the social movements, created an interest group concerning freedom in the society such as questioning the power and influence of the government, sexual revolution, and insisting on more rights and freedoms for the minorities and women as well. The sexual revolution movement was seen during the 1960s until the 1970s. This new culture promoted free love advocating the command and power of love as well as the splendor of sex as it is a part of peoples lives. The beginning of this movement led to the start of societys change of views about sexuality and sexual behaviors. This sexual liberalization movement proclaimed a new culture with the experimentation of sex for those married and those that are not. The use of pills and other contraception, as well as freedom to abort and public nudity were promoted by the sexual revolution movement.
On the other hand, a diverse set of newspaper, the Underground Press, functioned as a unifying means for this counterculture. This social revolution also was the beginning of the widespread of psychedelic music and the socially recognition of marijuana and LSD use. The use of such recreational drugs also helped developed the character of the 1960 counterculture. These drugs were a key component of the counterculture as it influenced the 1960s fashion styles, music, philosophy, and art.
Left-wing social movements advocated for alternative lifestyles and social activism. Social justice was a main objective for the advocates of this movement. It was also in the 1960s that the issue of feminism gained force in the United States. For a long time, women werent given the same rights as that of men. They had fewer opportunities when it came to careers and jobs. The images given to women were always mostly negative being weak and helpless. Women have always been discriminated especially in the workplace. And so feminists started their protests in order to fight for the womens personal, political, and professional freedom and success.
The intense movements of the 1960s continued on until the 1970s where the nations population was at almost 205 million people. The major social movements progressed on and the revolutionary ideas became more accepted during the 1970s. The American culture and way of life had begun to be accustomed to these social changes brought about by the different movements. The legacy of the counterculture that took place from the 1960s to the 1970 will always be the talks of discussions and debates. The 1960s is the decade where rebellious trends and events originated and the 1970s helped developed it. The Counterculture is viewed to be anti-modern and capitalism. The whole era of the counterculture of the 1960s and the 1970s had reservations not only with the institutions and governments of the United States, but the western culture and way of life as well. The counterculture can be perceived to be a post-modern social movement by the people who questioned modernism and the scientific world view (Farber 55).
How the revolutionary youth who all came together and threatened to destroy the traditional standards of the American society will remain to be one of the countercultures notable legacy. The social movements which were based on the criticism of the American way of life and culture changed several attitudes and beliefs of the country. The Hippies who promoted love and peace and usually used drugs were the forerunners of the extensive protest movements. The media found interesting stories about these hippies. Even after the counterculture, several Medias continued to publicize about the young revolutionaries from all over the United States who embraced the hippie beliefs and fashion.
Because of the counter culture, drug use became widespread in the country. The use of these substances was justified through the Americans supposed sick notion of the society. Music also began to boom after the 1960s and 1970s as it served as a medium for expressing ones opinions and feelings during the counter culture era.
Making love in public, decadent actions and use of drugs are also some of the negative connotation of the counterculture. This era of social movements was rejected in the long run as people soon became disillusioned with the defeat of idealism and the influence as well as effect of drugs on people. This era presented how anti-capitalist movements can instantly be turned into mass amusement and ridiculous consumption.
The legacy of the social movements were patronizing and ambitious to revolutionize the society in to a more free, equal and less violent one. The ideals behind the movements were commendable however the movements lacked appropriate means and actions to accomplish their ends. As it may have been deficient of preparations and organization, it was able to challenge and question the status quo, and was able to mark an outstanding transition in the United States society. The Civil Rights movements along with all the other movements in the 1960s and 1970s helped produce a new distinctiveness and character for the country. The cultural awareness and social consciousness of the American society expanded because of the counterculture. The 1960s and 1970s movements may have not drastically altered the American society by means of overthrowing democracy or capitalism but these social actions were able to rock the groundwork of the society (Heale 98). The present culture of America is more insightful of its varied population and the counterculture may have helped the country get ready for this transition. The social movements provided how alternative lifestyles are present and made it clear to the American society to evaluate the kind of life style and culture they should embrace.
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