Blog #9

Nick Mitterando

Blog #9

            The first reading talked about the Downtown development of Boston. It explains how Boston was trying to redevelop into a better more modern area with a new and stronger economy. Many new stores and buildings were built to encourage people traveling, living, and spending money in Boston to boost the local economy. One example of this is in the reading when it says, “the enormous and architecturally acclaimed Kallman, McKinnell & Knowles Boston City Hall—had no cafeteria or dining hall within it, to force employees to leave the premises and patronize local restaurants and other businesses.” What this means is that since the new workplace had no cafeteria employees had to go u tot small local business and support them by buying lunch. This helped boost the economy in the area. The article later talks about the effects of these new shops and towns on older department stores and how they had to merge and close in order to adapt to the new area.

            The second reading talks about the changes that happened to the south in the 50s-60s. Many farms and factories during and after WWII changed to be fully mechanized. The government was giving out contracts for Steel, Rubber and Space products production. Many of these factories and farms switched to be mechanized so they can support the production of these government contracts. This helped boost the profits and economy of the southern factories and farms. The reading ends by talking about how federal policy can be very biased. There is also an example from the civil war saying, “Once the Republican party gained power, they pushed through an unabashedly sectional economic development program that reinforced the South’s colonial status for decades after the Civil War.” This shows how federal policy can benefit certain areas more than others. Both articles show how important a stable economy is to any part of the nation, whether it is the nation as a whole or a small town.