The Top 10 for the 20th Century: Economics.

AuthorSCHNEPPER, JEFF A.
PositionBrief Article

Being asked to list the 10 most significant economic events of the 20th century is a lot like being asked to list the 10 most beautiful women in the world--every husband has a different answer for number one, and few agree on numbers two through 10. Moreover, with economics, you normally have movements, rather than single, isolated events. Nevertheless, here are my top 10:

The explosive revolution in travel and transportation. The automobile opened near-universal access to the nation and led to the growth of the suburbs. It allowed the luxury of independent travel--without the exhaustive costs of time and money. No longer did people have to live where they worked. With a car comes freedom--ask any teenager. With a car comes the suburban shopping mall--the cultural hub of modern society, Sociologically, the car you own defines who you are in America. The car means independence and self-sufficiency--the very definition of the American psyche.

The car lets you move, but the jet lets you fly! Modern air travel means that distance and time have been diminished again. The wonders of far-off civilizations are now hours, rather than lifetimes, away.

The ubiquitous use and availability of the telephone. Several years ago, I led a Rotary Group Study Exchange to Pakistan. While that nation lacked many of the comforts Americans take for granted, when I wanted to call my family back home in the U.S., I was handed a cell phone. People now have instant communication with others around the world. As the sun never set on the British empire in the last century, today, because of telecommunications, it never sets on international business and commerce.

The Great Depression. The devastation of the U.S. economy in the 1930s led to the growth of big central government in Washington. The bureaucracies of government regulation and oversight were a direct result of the Depression. They were established to create work and stimulate a sluggish economy.

The Depression opened the door to a huge expansion in active government intervention in the nation's economic and, later, social affairs. Big government was conceived under Abraham Lincoln, germinated under Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, but gave birth in full flower under Franklin D. Roosevelt as a reaction to the needs created by the Depression.

World War II must be listed as a major significant event simply because it lifted the U.S. out of the Depression. The war eliminated unemployment and stimulated...

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