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Great Depression In The 1930s Essay

Decent Essays

Within the 1920s and the 1930s the United States went through a phase of depression. It affected the stock market, the situation of farmers, banks and businesses, and personal income and debt. People within the United States suffered a great loss. People lost their jobs and could no longer afford homes. The government needed to pay for things like buildings and other expensive things that were being paid from Americans taxes.

The stock market declined an incredible amount and personal income and debt rose within the 1930s. It is now famously known today as the Great Depression. This made the American economy take a dive for the worst. In the 1920s there was no extreme debt or financial problems that would cause an American epidemic. There …show more content…

After the crash during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 banks failed. Within all of the 9,000 banks that failed, 4,000 failed within 1933 alone. By that time, depositors saw $140 billion disappearing through these bank failures. 30 percent of people were losing jobs, which was about 15 million people at the time. People sold their cars and other valuable items to pay for things, since they lost a lot in the stock market. The money was no longer feeding its way through Americans, causing there to grow a huge and noticeable gap between the rich and the poor. There was no longer a middle class. You either had money or you didn’t.

Farmers struggled too. When dryness, heat, and grasshoppers destroyed crops, farmers were left with no money to pay for groceries or to make farm payments. Neighbors helped out neighbors with illnesses and and paying for things as little as supper. They would have church dinners, different school programs, and even dances to keep people busy and not thinking about poverty. Most farmers gave up or were forced off their land because they could pay or keep their crops alive. There was little water to keep them alive, so that is what they called a “Double Whammy.”

Overall, the Great Depression was a long and severe recession in an economy or market. It caused the stock market to decline, the situation of farmers to get worse, the banks and businesses to fail, and personal income and debt to become an out-of-hand

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