However, the government blamed the financial problems on the workers and especially the unions as strikes caused workforce to stop and the government went to the IMF, this however does not include Wilsons decision to devalue the pound as this was damaging on the economy because people were getting loess for their money and it disheartened a lot of the population. Source 7 agrees that the Labour Government’s failures outweigh its successes as it’s ‘achievements were not enough to dispel the impression
The cost of living would have to go down if there were to be no set minimum wage otherwise more and more people would become poverty stricken by the sudden loss of income. The unemployment rate would increase greatly if we were to abolish the minimum wage because no one would want to work for less than what they were being paid for working the same job. If no one wanted to work the same job for lower pay then the businesses would start going out business. It would just be a big domino affect that would cause more trouble than good at least for the American citizens anyway. Illegal immigrants would have a hell of a time with all the job opportunities opening up.
Hyperinflation happened because Germany owed so much money due to reparations of the war, it simply thought that it would just be able to print more money, but when a government prints money that it does not have the value of money decreases and prices go up. In Germany this was a huge problem as inflation was rising at astonishing rates and the effects were disastrous. Many people that had worked hard are there lives were forced to become beggars as the pensions and savings lost all value. The people that had jobs were still in disastrous positions, as their wages could not keep up with the increasing rate of inflation. People were not blaming the Kaisers war government but instead they were blaming the Weimar government, as they were the ones that had agreed to pay the war reparations in the treaty of Versailles.
Although Hitler was appointed chancellor, the Nazi party was still outnumbered in the cabinet, so when the election was called in February 1933 Hitler knew that he must once again win the support of the public. At the same time a Communist Dutch named Marinus Van De Lubbe burnt down the Reichstag building which coincidently tremendously helped the Nazi party to consolidate its power. The event caused country wide panic and Hitler and the Nazi party used this panic to their advantage. They blamed communism for the fire and made it seem as if the country was in a state of emergency because of the threat of communism. This ultimately allowed for Hitler and the Nazi party to implement the "Reichstag Fire Decree" which allowed the government to restrict the liberty of the public.
Thatcher saw the Unions as trouble makers and as a malevolent influence on the UK's prosperity as a whole so she decided to do something about it, she reduced the unions' power - making strike ballots compulsory and outlawing flying pickets etc and set about selling off nationalised industry. Similarly, David Cameron also views trade unions as a nuisance that disrupt society’s economic growth. In the 1980s, Prime Minister Thatcher had a secure Tory majority and no reputation for making U-turns. That is not true of Mr Cameron's government. Weakness, even perceived weakness, not strength, provokes aggression from the trade union.
The trade unions became a problem when real wages for workers was decreasing and the price of goods was increasing and as a result Wild cat strikes broke out and this presented issues for both governments and trade unions. Wilson’s response to this was his policy ‘In Place Of Strife’ in 1969 and Wilson thought it was necessary to curb unions who were getting out of control and for good of British economy. However this was not quite the case as it upset trade unions as well as some of the labour party itself, and a storm of protests took place, including the National Union of Mineworkers, and Callaghan
They were also influenced by the fear of Europe flooding American markets with cheap goods after the war. Presidents Harding and Coolidge, granted with authority to reduce or increase duties, were always sympathetic towards the big industries, thus much more prone to increasing tariffs than decreasing them. Congress soon passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law, which raised the tariff from 27% to 38.5%. However, this presented a problem for Europe since they needed to sell goods to the U.S. in order to get the money to pay back is debts, and when it could not sell, it could not repay. Later on President Hoover passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 which raised duty on non-free goods to nearly 60%.
Any additional raise of minimum wage would totally jeopardize the everyday lives of all Americans. The fewer jobs available, because of the pay hike, will mainly be the cause of the lower class workers’ unemployment. Simply, the minimum wage debate is a touchy subject among many economists and political figures. There are an immense amount of arguments toward the good and bad aspects of minimum wage, but one incontrovertible fact is that a minimum wage elevation causes loss for businesses, as well as, working people. The larger businesses try to make things seem more at ease than they truly are.
The massive political influence meant that the foundations were in place for the future American domination of the world economy. At the same time, the growth of big business created a strong backlash against it. The new mass labour force led to the spread of socialist ideas and the organisation of labour into trades unions. There were problems caused by the volatile ‘boom-and-bust’ nature of industrial and financial growth. The sudden downturns in the economy led to a sharp drop in gold reserves and put pressure on the government to bring in a high protective tariff.
A growing international competition has also impacted union importance amongst the industries. Product oriented markets were deeply impacted by the competition brought on by international counterparts. Inadequate wage adjustments and demands have accelerated the decline. Almost 66% Americans feel that unions do not benefit the economy, but in turn, hurt the economy, especially during an economic crisis. As of August 2008, labor union approval was at 38% and it fell to 25% in August 2009.