Unemployment heightened as factories closed due to overproduction, causing people to lose their source of income, and the government provided no unemployment insurance. Not to mention people lost their savings due to numerous banks closing. Therefore, this caused great poverty. Endless number of American people were homeless, didn’t have jobs, were hungry, and had inadequate housing. Many individuals believed it was wrong for the government to allow Americans to suffer in poverty …show more content…
He had a proposal for a state-funded pension which was eventually called the Townsend plan. It promised to end the Great Depression by opening up jobs for younger workers, while forcing seniors to spend more money in the consumer economy. His idea was to end economic crisis through consumer spending by a way of ending poverty among the elderly. It would have awarded $200 monthly to individuals over sixty years old who were no longer employed. Roosevelt eventually adapted his ideas of the Townsend Plan into what is now called the Social Security program, which has more restricted benefits. Although, his plan had a great deal of effect on Roosevelt's ideas, other individuals influenced FDR and this period of time not by any specific ideas, but simply