How much is too much? The founders of our country were all successful individuals who believed in an individual's right to succeed or fail on their own. Their experience with the British government convinced them that the less government involvement in economic affairs, the better. These beliefs were central to the idea of ​​liberal capitalism: that in a capitalist society, for all to enjoy economic opportunity, the government must not meddle in the nation's economy. As Americans we cling to the belief that if we work just a little harder, because if we sacrifice a little today, we will reap the rewards of our labor tomorrow. Of course, history tells us that when big business and special interest groups dominate an economy through political influence, individual effort does not always equate to equal opportunity. There may be times when government intervention is necessary, but how much government intervention is necessary has always been a question. As American industry became increasingly industrialized, workers' living conditions worsened, and a consensus eventually developed under the "progressives," an umbrella term for several groups who saw the application of efficient business practices as a way to cure social problems. Key to this belief was the idea that only government had the resources to achieve this goal. This steadily growing belief in the late 1800s and early 1900s would finally be put to the test in 1929. After World War I, the government's failure to intervene in the economy led to rampant speculation and borrowing. Many people borrowed money to invest in a stock market that just seemed to know how to go up. Unbeknownst to most Americans, bad economic decisions were being made by both businesses and government economists themselves. Decisions that would have terrible consequences on October 29, 1929, when the stock markets collapsed. President Herbert Hoover, a firm believer in the liberal-conservative principle of non-governmental interference, refused to intervene. Like most business-minded people of the time, he believed that economies go through cycles of boom and bust. According to him, this period of recession should be allowed to run its course (Norton 473). As the economy continued to worsen, Americans elected a new president into office who offered to use the power of the government to do something about the economy. As progressives previously believed, Franklin Roosevelt believed that only the federal government had the ability to mobilize resources nationwide to stimulate the economy..