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View Full Version : National Industrial Recovery Act- are we rewriting history?


doctordog
04-23-2010, 10:41 PM
Does anyone see similarities between then and now?

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly codified at 15 U.S.C. sec. 703), was an American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and which established a national public works program.[1][2]

The legislation was enacted in June 1933 during the Great Depression part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislative program. Section 7(a) of the bill, which protected collective bargaining rights for unions, proved contentious (especially in the Senate),[1][3] but both chambers eventually passed the legislation and President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1933.[1][4] The Act had two main sections (or "titles").

Title I was devoted to industrial recovery, and authorized the promulgation of industrial codes of fair competition, guaranteed trade union rights, permitted the regulation of working standards, and regulated the price of certain refined petroleum products and their transportation.

Title II established the Public Works Administration, outlined the projects and funding opportunities it could engage in, and funded the Act.

The Act was implemented by the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA).[2][5] Very large numbers of regulations were generated under the authority granted to the NRA by the Act,[6][7] which led to a significant loss of political support for Roosevelt and the New Deal.[2]

The NIRA was set to expire in June 1935, but in a major constitutional ruling the U.S. Supreme Court held Title I of the Act unconstitutional on May 27, 1935, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935).[2]

The National Industrial Recovery Act is widely considered a policy failure, both in the 1930s and by historians today.[1][8][9] Disputes over the reasons for this failure continue, however. Among the suggested causes are that the Act promoted economically harmful monopolies,[6] that the Act lacked critical support from the business community,[10] and that the Act was poorly administered.[10][11] The Act encouraged union organizing, which led to significant labor unrest.[12] The Act had no mechanisms for handling these problems, which led Congress to pass the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.[13]

mrmeangenes
04-23-2010, 11:28 PM
Nice try !

If you cut and pasted it, you should be aware your source is not wholly accurate - much less disinterested.

Revere
04-23-2010, 11:44 PM
At best, it was a government induced coma that hung on until the real industrialization of WWII came along and all bets were off.

doctordog
04-23-2010, 11:47 PM
Nice try !

If you cut and pasted it, you should be aware your source is not wholly accurate - much less disinterested.

It is wikipedia asshat, NRA failed miserably driving many small business to bankruptcy while the fat cats got fatter. We are seeing the same thing with this administration. The good news is the people were sick of FDR just like they are of Obama now.

Revere
04-23-2010, 11:49 PM
It is wikipedia asshat, NRA failed miserably driving many small business to bankruptcy while the fat cats got fatter. We are seeing the same thing with this administration. The good news is the people were sick of FDR just like they are of Obama now.

True. Industrial policy was set by government determining the winners and losers. Like modern day GE compared to, say, automobile dealerships.

Unemployment floated around 15% for several years, until the war came along.

mrmeangenes
04-24-2010, 09:21 AM
It is wikipedia asshat, NRA failed miserably driving many small business to bankruptcy while the fat cats got fatter. We are seeing the same thing with this administration. The good news is the people were sick of FDR just like they are of Obama now.

What the hell do you know about "the good people" of that era ?
Roosevelt was revered by most Americans - and despised by the forerunners of today's obstructionists: some of whom (Stop me if this sounds familiar !) wanted to wage a civil war and set up their own version of America.

NRA in and of itself drove absolutely nobody to bankruptcy. You do recall reading there was a major depression ? You may not have read it started as a minor recession-and was left to get worse and worse by an administration that thought the nearly-bankrupt state and local governments should handle the problem.

The depression didn't "break" until 1939-1940-when high unemployment figures began to reverse : slowly and painfully. (Again, then -as now-there were people willing to mock any progress made...because it interfered with their political ambitions.)

You're entitled to your own views - and we probably share more of them than you think -but facts and revisionist "think tank" opinions are two different critters altogether !

doctordog
04-24-2010, 10:33 AM
What the hell do you know about "the good people" of that era ?
Roosevelt was revered by most Americans - and despised by the forerunners of today's obstructionists: some of whom (Stop me if this sounds familiar !) wanted to wage a civil war and set up their own version of America.

NRA in and of itself drove absolutely nobody to bankruptcy. You do recall reading there was a major depression ? You may not have read it started as a minor recession-and was left to get worse and worse by an administration that thought the nearly-bankrupt state and local governments should handle the problem.

The depression didn't "break" until 1939-1940-when high unemployment figures began to reverse : slowly and painfully. (Again, then -as now-there were people willing to mock any progress made...because it interfered with their political ambitions.)

You're entitled to your own views - and we probably share more of them than you think -but facts and revisionist "think tank" opinions are two different critters altogether !

NRA caused thousands of small businesses to go belly up. Many you can't even find history on anymore unless you have read a specific book that mentions them. When NRA started FDR invited Goodyear, Firestone, and BF Goodrich in for a meeting to discuss price regulations of Tires. At that time there were approximately 25 US tire makers. Farris Tire was one that I read about that went out of business shortly after NRA. He had over 1500 workers that all lost their jobs. Regulations benefit big business and kill small business.