The Great Depression is a defining moment in time for not only American, but world history. This was a time that caused political, economical, and social unrest. Not only did the Great Depression cause a world wide panic, it also caused a world wide crisis unlike any before it. This paper will analyze both the causes and the effects of the Great Depression in the United States of America. One cause of the depression is the effects of World War One. World War one had many devastating effects on countries all across the globe. In the United States millions of lives were lost to the war, as well as huge amounts of money that had been used to fund the war. All across the globe vast destruction of property was found. This in turn caused a …show more content…
The quote, “Economists still agree that Smoot-Hawley and the ensuing tariff wars were highly counterproductive and contributed to the depth and length of the global Depression” (http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20130325a.htm) shows that the Americans original plan of protecting their own businesses only hindered them. Another cause of the depression was the lack of prosperity for many groups, and the lack of spending that soon resulted from this. In the early 1920s we know that the United States had a high prosperity. What is less known is that not everyone was sharing the good times. Immigrants from most countries, including those in Africa and Mexico, were sharing the same poor treatment as the Aboriginals in the United States. These groups were not doing well socially or economically and had low paying jobs. Many Americans simply could not afford to pay for many goods, and this created a massive reduction in purchasing. Factory workers suffered greatly from the reduction in purchasing; many factories had no need to keep the high levels of production going, and were forced to fire many employees. More workers still lost their jobs to machinery that could be used to the employers advantage to reduce the spending on wages. People now found themselves unemployed and unable to pay for their items previously purchased through
The Great Depression first started as early as 1928, but did not affect the United States until 1929. The Great Stock Market crash started the event of the Depression here in America, but was not the main cause to why it happened. During the early stages of the depression, President Hoover failed to help the economy and continued with his belief system of giving people the least help they needed, so they can earn themselves a rightful spot with pride, not with government’s help. The Great Depression was a very intense experience for us, even until today, the
In conclusion, the Great Depression was a downside of America’s history. But, in the dark times, one of our nation’s best presidents came into light. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This meant in those times that Americans were doing more harm than good. When they withdrew their stocks and money from the banks, they were causing more damage to the economy. With shutting down the banks and getting congress together, they were able to solve the dilemmas of the Great Depression through actions taken by federal and state
The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted up until 1939. It happens to be the worst economic downturn for the United States and the the rest of the world. It caused companies and corporations to eventually go bankrupt as well as workers to be laid off. Another effect of The Great Depression is that factory production was reduced, and the banks started to shut down. In the lowest point of The Great Depression in 1933 nearly 15 million workers in America were unemployed and one half of the banks started shutting down.
There are some main causes The great depression, first in 1934 per week They made $ 4.80 per week and They paid $ 3 by The incomes of Their Homes, all that happened to Birmingham Alabama in 1934, in Chicago everything rises for The men and The women for the food , And then spent $ 1.10 that was spent on food in stores, The three cases are The three cases were The financial downfall, low wages, and unemployment.
Second cause of the great depression is the uneven distribution of wealth. Business owners made huge profit from the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. These business owners did not deal with the low wages of their workers. As a result, the workers were not able to afford goods as these companies produced them. Also, after the world war one, the European nations owed America billions of dollars. The economy of these European countries was devastating; thus, there was no way for these countries to repay.
The Great Depression of the 1930’s was caused by many problems. They include overproduction, monetary policy, war debt, tariffs, the stock market crash, and unequal distribution of wealth. These each play a specific and intricate role in bringing the U.S economy to its knees.
The Great Depression was the result of life during the Roaring Twenties. People heavily valued materialism and hedonism which in-turn made many people try to find a way to gain a large amount of money in a short period of time. As more and more people were intoxicated with greed and selfishness, they became more careless through their actions and made many mistakes. These mistakes led to the
There were easily multiple causes for the start of the Great Depression in 1929. Many historians and economists put emphasis on organizational causes such as actions by the Federal Reserve. Often part of any business cycle are recessions due to the changes of supply and demand, but what turns this business cycle into a depression is always up for debate. In the case of the Great Depression, the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, debt deflation, and American economic policies with Europe
The economic expansion of the 1920’s, with its increased production of goods and high profits, culminated in immense consumer speculation that collapsed with disastrous results in 1929 causing America’s Great Depression. There were a number or contributing factors to the depression, with the largest and most important one being a general loss of confidence in the American economy. The reason it escalated was a general misunderstanding of recessions by American policymakers of the time.
<br>The nations unequal distribution of wealth also contributed to the severity of the depression. During the 1920s the share of the national income
Uneven distribution of wealth serves as another cause of the Great Depression. America was wealthy in the 1920s, but this wealth did not extend to all segment of the society. The gains made by wealthy Americans in the 1920s far outstripped gained made by the working class. By the time of the stock market crash, the upper one percent of the population controlled over sixty percent of the nation’s savings. On the other hand, over three quarters of American families made less than $3000 a year. Problems that could develop from this situation were obvious. The bottom-line three-quarters of families were too poor to purchase much to help the economics to flourish. Underconsumption, in the long run, was a vicious circle to the economy. People had no money to spend. The income of many firms dwindled. More people were laid off or cut hours and thus further cut their spending. The economics became stagnant.
Many people think that the Great Depression was caused solely by the stock market crash. Anybody who tells you this probably didn’t pass U.S. History in high school. The fact is, the Great Depression was caused many different factors. Four of which were overproduction, uneven distribution of wealth, protective tariffs, and the four “sick industries” of the 1920’s.
Many people speculate that the stock market crash of 1929 was the main cause of The Great Depression. In fact, The Great Depression was caused by a series of factors, and the effects of the depression were felt for many years after the stock market crash of 1929. By looking at the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, reduction of purchasing, American economic policy with Europe, and drought conditions, it becomes apparent that The Great Depression was caused by more than just the stock market crash. The effects were detrimental beyond the financial crisis experienced during this time period.
The Great Depression of 1929 is said to have many causes. In an article on about.com Martin Kelly states there were five main causes of the Great Depression. First is the stock market crash
It got so bad due to a misunderstanding of a slump by American policymakers. This became a problem.