WORK EXCHANGE & TECHNOLOGY The development of American economies based on agriculture, commerce and manufacturing

TRANSPORTATION Took over as the primary means of transportation, becoming more powerful than Railroads The steel, glass, rubber and especially the oil industries boomed. More Americans went shopping and traveling Many more people commuted to work, and the suburbs expanded THE AUTOMOBILE

COMMERCE Electricity Electricity fueled consumerism People wanted vacuum cleaners, fridges, and washing machines More chain stores opened Internet Internet Fueled consumerism The ease of the internet makes it easy for those to order products More online stores open

AGRICULTURE Mechanization New technologies such as the internal combustion engine brought farming into the 20 th century. With the use of tractors, farmers no longer had the need to feed, and house horses, saving costs Tractors made a more efficient use of the acreage of a farmer, and allowed a farmer to cultivate a larger field. Genetic engineering New findings in genetics now allow scientists to make Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) GMO’s can make more disease and weed resistant plants GMO’s can make more efficient use of land, by eliminating the amount of lost crops, and being able to farm multiple crops on one organism

MANUFACTURING Better Production techniques Ford’s assembly line Inspired by Frederick W. Taylor’s Time-and-Motion studies Most industries adopted this technique and production increased Autonomous Manufacturing Robotic assembly lines Robots have replaced many humans in simple manufacturing jobs Computers control many instances of production Outsourcing Companies have begun sending simple tasks to third class countries