term he worked hard to empower the federal branch. The New Deal set the precedent for 20th century liberalism. The first order of business for the Roosevelt administration was financial reform. Banking is a crucial aspect of capitalism and Roosevelt was very aware of this fact. On his second day in office, Roosevelt called Congress to meet in a special session. The outcome was the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which permitted stable banks to reopen and provided managers to those who remained in trouble. The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial and investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. These actions all helped restore banking confidence within American people. Roosevelt ensured that it was safer to "keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress"(Tindall and Shi 1238). After accomplishing this task, the new administration was ready to solve other problems.
             Other financial programs included the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), and the Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA). The SEC functioned in regulating the stock and bond markets. The NIRA and AAA were aimed at recovery through regulation. The NIRA played a big role in restoring faith and confidence in the system and helped to increase demand and wages, but realistically it was impractical; it abandoned the American market system. The NIRA did work for a short time, perhaps because a new air of confidence had overcome the depression blues and the downward spiral of wages and prices had subsided. But as soon as economic recovery began, the honeymoon ended (Tindall and Shi 1248). The AAA was set up to help farmers with the costs of harvesting their crops. The AAA achieved success in boosting the overall farm economy, but unfortunately, someone had to pay for the success. That someone was the taxpayers and consumers.
             Relieving the widespread distress was another major ...