Wednesday, February 13, 2019

History of the US Economy


The US adopted a Free Market Economy and designed government to encourage it.  Like today, business operators needed to offer goods that were in demand that could be produced at costs that allowed their goods to be competitive.

Funding for the US government would come from Tariffs charged on foreign imports. Capital investment came from the wealthy US business owners themselves plus loans from foreign investment banks paid back with interest. It took 100 years, from 1800 to 1900 to expand and develop the US into the most prosperous country on the planet.

Most early businesses were family farms and manufacturing operations. The farms and manufacturers were aimed at the most profitable goods in most demand. Business operators worked to keep their costs low and their profits high.  The US population in 1789 was about 4 million. Most were farmers and many were tradesmen.

The tradesmen set up businesses in towns where farmers could go to buy goods. These towns had churches, pubs, inns and general stores to resell goods made throught the States. Ore had to be mined and turned into useable iron, steel and silver.

Everyone needed horses, buggies and wagons, Typical trades were family-based manufacturers who made buggies, wagons, saddles, horseshoes, harnesses, picks, shovels, ploughs, knives and guns.

Grain had to be milled into flour, bees wax had to be turned into candles, oil had to be drilled to make lamp oil, Lye had to be processed into soap, cheese had to be made from milk, meat had to be hunted or raised,

Farmers grew enough crops and raised enough livestock to feed the 4 million, but farmers also needed to raise crops that were more profitable like tobacco. In 1789, land was cheap and Farmers expanded to become Plantations to increase their volume of goods to sell.

Everybody made beer and whiskey. The Cotton Gin was invented in 1793 and was used to separate the cotton seeds from cotton balls. Inventers began to work from home on other labor saving devices

Towns and cities had merchants, doctors, chemists, lawyers, architects, publishers, colleges, professors, scientists, masons, builders and constructors of homes and infrastructure. Children were home schooled and hired tutors and every settler read the Bible. Family businesses were eager to useful things.

Those families who became wealthy enough had tradesmen build their homes in towns and cities. Young men would set out to make their fortune as merchants or professionals and deferred marriage until they could afford to build a home. They bought furniture from manufacturers based on price and quality.

Settlers on farms drilled wells and built their own homes, barns and furniture.  Everybody burned wood to warm their homes, heat their water and cook their food. There was no indoor plumbing and water needed to be fetched from a well.

The Industrial Revolution was underway in 1800. The steam engine was invented in England in 1698. The automobile was invented in France in 1769 and the first automobile was made in Germany in 1885.

The recognition of electromagnetism, the unity of electric and magnetic phenomena, is due to Hans Christian Ørsted and André-Marie Ampère in 1819–1820. Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analyzed the electrical circuit in 1827.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876

Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879, generated hydroelectric power in 1881 and DC power in 1884. 

In 1885, the coal burning furnace was developed.

Ruud invented the gas water heater in 1889.

Nikolai Tesla discovered AC power was a better way to generate power over a wide area. In 1891 AC power was ready. It powered the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.  After that, electricity began to become available across the US. By 1925 half the homes in the US had electricity.

Nikolai Tesla invented the radio in 1893, but didn’t get a patent until 1900. Marconi filed a patent in 1896.

Inventions were patented in the US after 1790 and included many useful devices and processes. The fireplace flu was invented in 1796, the suspension bridge in 1801, the refrigerator in 1805, the circular in 1813. The milling machine was invented in 1816, the lathe in 1818, the sewing machine in 1833, the combine harvester in 1834, the steam shovel in 1835, Morse code was invented in 1836, the modern plow in 1837, the corn Sheller in 1839 and vulcanized rubber in 1839.


By 1840 the US population had increased to 17 million. Cotton became the cash crop in the South. Slavery was being questioned even as the value of the slaves constituted a large portion of family fortunes. Railroads were being built along with roads and water-ways. The steam engine was replacing the water wheel at mills.

Inventions patented from the 1840s included: The modern bridge truss in 1840, either anesthesia in 1842, the grain elevator in 1842, the ice cream maker in 1843, the water evaporator in 1843, the rotary printing press in 1843, the telegraph in 1844. adhesive tape in 1845, he gas mask in 1847, the jackhammer in 1849, the dishwasher in 1850, the inverted microscope in 1850, the egg beater in 1856, toilet paper in 1857 and the mason jar in 1858.

By 1860 the US population had increased to 31 million. Inventions patented from the 1860s included: The vacuum cleaner in 1860, the lever action repeating rifle in 1860, the twist drill in 1861, the hand cranked machine gun in 1861, the socket wrench in 1863, the steam-powered motorcycle in 1867, the refrigerated boxcar in 1867, the pipe wrench in 1869, the can opener in 1870, Sandblasting in 1870, the air brake in 1872, the silo in 1873, the dental drill in 1875, the phonograph in 1877, the oil burning furnace in 1880, the electric fan in 1882, the thermostat in 1883 and the electric motor in 1888.

By 1900 the US population had increased to 76 million. Inventions patented from the 1900s included: The nickel-zinc battery in 1900, the assembly line in 1901, the radio detection finder in 1902, air conditioning in 1902, the airplane in 1903, crystal oscillator 1918,


Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin in 1928 and antibiotics for inflammatory diseases became available in 1940 and were widely available by 1945. We finally had a cure for inflammation and previously incurable diseases were curable. This invention has saved millions of lives lost to smallpox, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria, post-op infections and countless other plagues and viruses.

By 1950 the US population had increased to 152.3 million driving 40 million cars and trucks. The inventions developed in the Industrial Revolution had been refined, cost reduced and were widely available including electricity, telephones, radios, television sets, electrical appliances, indoor plumbing, water treatment, water distribution and paved roads.

US manufacturing dominated from the 1950s through the 1980s led by technological innovations in electronics and the PC revolution. US car manufacturing began to fail in the 1970s. Foreign cars began to dominate US car sales in the 1980s.  Other US durable goods manufacturing moved overseas.

In the 1980s, excessive immigration began to flood the US with welfare immigrants. US corporate taxes remained at 35%, while all other countries reduced their corporate taxes. US manufacturing continued to move overseas.

In the 1990s, the US government imposed massive regulations. US electronics moved operations overseas and Asia began to dominate in electronics. The US began to implement UN Agenda 21 to prepare for global governance. The EU had formed to remove sovereignty from European countries.

By 2000 the US population had increases to 282.2 million driving 113 million motor vehicles. The National Debt was $5 trillion.

In 2001, Muslim Terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers NY and the US government launched expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2008, excessive US anti-discrimination laws caused mortgage defaults that tanked the global economy and we elected a Muslim Communist as President of the US.

From 2008 to 2016, the US economy languished in the “Great Recession”, the National Debt doubled from $10 trillion to $20 trillion. Excessive immigration of welfare migrants continued. The cost of Healthcare, Government and Education became unsustainable.

In 2017, we elected Donald Trump to restore the US economy and return middle-class manufacturing jobs. Trump cut US corporate taxes from 35% to 21%, cut job-killing regulations, reduced welfare migration and increased US oil and gas production. Trump is using Tariffs to reduce the US trade deficit and stop intellectual property theft. Middle class jobs are finally being restored.

By 2019 the US population had increased to 329 million and the National Debt to $22 trillion. 

From 1970 to 2018, electronics had advanced giving us the PC, the internet, the I-Phone, GPS, Wi-Fi, Flat Screen TV, broadband, credit card use, on-line banking and hybrid cars.

We need to continue to increase US GDP, increase the private sector and shrink the public sector. We need to secure our borders and return to a “merit-based immigration law. We need to eliminate welfare for immigrants. We need to repeal Obamacare and make healthcare, education and government affordable. We need to reduce all individual, corporate and government debt and remove Socialism from the US.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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