Economic and Social Effects of Prohibition Essay examples -- history

Economic and Social Effects of obstructionThere ar many ways in which prohibition of alcohol consumption in the United States of America, damaged the very economic and social aspects of American culture, that it was designed to heal. Prohibition did not hit its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve. On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, do all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce crime, poverty, death rates, and improve two the economy, and the quality of life for all Americans. These goals were far from achieved. The prohibition amendment of the 1920s was ineffective because it was un bring downable. Instead, it caused various social problems such as the expl osive growth of organized crime, increased liquor consumption, massive murder rates and corruption among city officials. Prohibition also hurt the economy because the government wasnt collecting taxes on the multi-billion dollar a year industry. One of the main reasons that prohibition failed, was because it was difficult to control the mass flow of illegal liquor from various countries, mainly Canada. Bootleggers smuggled liquor from oversees and Canada, take it from government warehouses, and produced their own. The newly established Federal Prohibition Bureau had only 1,550 agents, and with 18,700 miles of vast and virtually unpoliceable coastline, it was clearly impossible to prevent immense quantities of liquor from go into the country. Not even 5% of smuggled liquor was ever actually captured and seized from the hands of the bootleggers. Bootlegging had become a very competitive and lucrative market with the adaptation of prohibition. This illegal underground economy fell into the hands of organized gangs who over powered most of the authorities. Most of these gangsters, secured their businesses by bribing an immense number of city officials. Mainly government agents and people with high political status such as Mayors, Judges, Police Chiefs, Senators and Governors, found their names on gangsters payroll. To some surprise, the consumption ... ...ederal officers to enforce the prohibition law. Many of those officers found themselves in the midst of the exchange of dirty money between the bootleggers and themselves. Tax dollars were also dog-tired on prosecuting bootleggers who got captured. Millions of dollars annually were spent convicting and keeping the prisoners in jails. Other economic problems were that citizens found themselves drinking away their pay cheques. These economic problems resulted in the government not taking in as much money as they could have, and spending money in areas that could have been avoided, if prohibition hadnt existed in the first place. It was apparent that Prohibition didnt achieve its goals, instead, it added to the existing economic and social problems, as well as creating new problems that would be prominent in todays society. Organized crime grew into an empire, contempt for the law grew, the per capita consumption of alcohol increased dramatically, city officials fell to gangsters, and the government lost money. It is obvious that prohibition was a miserable failure from all points of view. just measures were not taken to enforce the laws, so they were practically ignored.