Den Fernandez
Consumer Culture in the 1920s As the world moved into the Roaring 20s it attempted to leave behind the destruction left in the wake of World War 1. In that transition back into a semi-normal society, a new fascination emerged from the United States' economic prosperity and consumerism. While the end of World War 1 brought American soldiers back home from the front lines, it also brought back huge economic gains with America’s numerous loans to other countries with the Dawes Plan instated by President Calvin Coolidge. As the Dawes Plan lowered Germany’s annual reparations to the allies but increase over time as its economy improved; additionally, US Banks loaned money to Germany who paid Britain and France, while Britain and France paid the US for all the money they had been loaned during the war. This round table of loans resulted in huge economic growth for the United States and allowed for
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Laissez-faire approaches to the economy gave businesses freedom of production, and with the Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon reducing the income tax of both cooperations and individuals, prices were reduced and far more new inventions were created. The mass production of transportation like the Ford Model T increased citizen mobility, and new electric household items like the vacuum cleaner, refrigerator, and washing machine helped ease the labor necessary around the house. With the wide availability of machinery and mass-produced goods, people no longer needed to keep using their items until their last life and embraced the opening of large-scale retail spaces like supermarkets and department stores. The stark contrast between the food, clothing, and material rationing of wartime and the excess of products now available to the public distinctly marked the 1920s from previous