make sure that the economy was 'sound'. a.  Budget -   He did not run deficit budgets (i.e. it did not spend more than it gathered in taxes). -   He CUT the pay of government employees by 15%. (These measures actually made the depression worse.) -   The government borrowed huge amounts of money to finance the New Deal, but it spent it on projects that were planned to pay back eventually. b.  Bankruptcies -   The Farm Loan Act and the Bankruptcy Act prevented banks from foreclosing on solvent businesses until they had had a chance to borrow from the Federal Reserve. -   The Home Loan Act and the Home Owners Loan Corporation did the same for ordinary home owners. c.  Prices and Wages -   The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) paid farmers to take fields out of production; the idea of this was to stop over-production and to drive up prices. -   The NRA (National Recovery Administration) was set up, where businessmen joined a 'Roll of Honour' (and were allowed to show a blue eagle symbol) where they promised to cut production and pay good wages -- 2.5 million firms, employing 22 million people, joined the scheme. -   FDR also abolished Child Labour -- this put more adults into work. d.  Currency You will read in some books that FDR abolished the gold standard (linking the value of the dollar to a certain weight of gold).   This is not true.   He did: -   stop people owning gold (they had to deposit it