fdic

E: The photograph you are viewing depicts the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is now known as the FDIC.

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S: The FDIC is a program that was part of the first New Deal. It was passed when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first came into office in 1933. FDR took office during the Great Depression when many Americans were having a tough time due to a shortage of money and resources.

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E: The FDIC's purpose was to regulate the practices of banks and insure customers' deposits. People lost much of their confidence in the banking system due to their failures and money loss at the start of the Depression, and one of FDR's missions was to restore the lost confidence and create safer banking practices.

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S: The program was passed during FDR's first 100 days in office and helped fix one of the problems that caused the Great Depression.

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E: Many bank failures happened and people lost their money when the Great Depression hit due to uninsured bank deposits. FDR created the FDIC to help prevent this from happening again.

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S: Many people benefitted from the FDIC because when they deposited money, they could get it all back due to the fact that their deposits were insured. Those who had confidence in the banking system and put a lot of money into savings lost a lot of it due to the banks' activities during the 1920s.

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E: The FDIC became a permanent government agency after FDR signed an act called the Banking Act or the Glass-Steagall Act. This bill was designed to provide safer and more effective use of assets of banks, to regulate interbank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds into speculative operations, and for other purposes.

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S: It was called Glass-Steagall Act because there were two important people in this act. One was a Senator of Virginia, Carter Glass, and the second was Representative from Alabama, Henry Steagall. These two men presented the idea to FDR, who signed the bill on June 16th, 1933.

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E: Still the FDIC supervises and examines 4,500 banks.The FDIC insurance limit of $250,000 per depositor is now permanent. The FDIC helps the depositors to ensure their accounts are properly managed.

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