The programs created economic order as well. By introducing unemployment insurance in the 1935 social package, FDR insured basic precautionary measures against other economic crises of the magnitude of the Great Depression. The demand of goods is at least in theory stabilized by unemployment insurance. The constant demand of goods will secure constant production, which will cushion the impact of the crisis on the necessity to lay-off workers. These were certainly not measures intended to redistribute wealth and, as I mentioned earlier, government involvement was not universally accepted in the U.S. until after the success of U.S. WWII industrial programs in kick starting the economy.
Political legitimacy is the clear factor in any of Mexico s attempts at welfare programs.
Carranza pushed for the very progressive labor code in the Constitution of 1917 as a way to shore up labor support during a very politically chaotic post-revolution period. Cardenas understood that the only way to wrest power away from Calles in 1934 was to grant greater power to both the campesino and labor sectors of the nation. In order to smooth over a rough transition to an open economy and the suspiciously fraudulent presidential elections of 1988, a social program represented one of his few possibilities for securing political support during a potentially very unstable period. Yet, unlike previous presidencies, Salinas faced a new level of accountability and, thus political instability. Due to market liberalization that has created a more open political realm, Mexico enjoys greater democratic sensitivity.