Spoils v Merit

The Spoils System is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to it's supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party. A Merit System is where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. The spoils system flourished in the US from the 1820's until after the Civil war, at which the time the system's abuses prompted civil-service reforms designed to cut down the number of government posts filled by appointment and awarded jobs on the basis of the merit. The spoils system is still used today to award federal top jobs to people.

Business Cycles, Recessions, and Depressions

      It is so tough for economists to predict the business cycle because of the economic growth and falling unemployment began to strain the economy's productive capacity. Inflation is also a big reason as to why it's hard for economists to predict. Since the economy grows because of the rising population and productivity, it goes through cycles of expansion and recession. A bull market is a financial market of a group of securities in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. This term is most often used to refer to the stock market, but can be applied to anything that is traded, such as bonds, currencies and commodities. A bear market is a market condition in which the prices of securities are falling, and widespread pessimism causes the negative sentiment to be self-sustaining. All of the bad that came with the devastating recessions eventually faded. America had depressions in the 1870's and 1930's but both eventually gave way to new booms. Japan has not yet put its debts behind. Millions of Americans defaulted and lost their homes during and after the Great Recession, but America will again grow until something new knocks it down again. A recession is a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity is reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters. A depression is a long severe recession in an economy or market.