Unregulated Capitalism During The Great Depression

     By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Bread lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands of people scoured the country in search of food, work, or a roof. There was a popular song from this era known as “Brother, can you spare a dime (Modern)?” A big step that happened for the unemployed were the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government program that brought relief to men between the ages of 18 and 25. The Conservation Corps gave jobs to young men in work camps across the country for about $30 per month. There were about 2 million men that took advantage of these jobs (The Great Depression). These men took part in a variety a jobs that included: planting trees, elimination stream pollution, creating game and bird sanctuaries, and conserving natural gases. For the other part of society work relief came in the form of the Civil Works Administration. These jobs consisted of ditch digging to highway repairs to teaching. Civil Works Administration was created in November 1933 and was ceased in the spring of 1934. Roosevelt continued to offer unemployment programs that offered pay (America).

The Great Depression emerged in America as the long-awaited “bust” to counteract the “boom” that was the Roaring 20’s. During the 20’s, consumerism skyrocketed in America and the previous progressive notions were left behind as stock markets had grasped American society in the hands of radical capitalism. While many citizens continued to suffer, they began to place their hopes and finances in the stock market to reach the same comfortable income that was the wealthy’s place as stockholders. As the American economy seemed never to be able to come down from its monetary high, it collapsed. With the sudden and irreversible crash of the stock markets and the quickly following crash of banks as people frantically tried to withdraw money that the banks did not have,

The Great Depression was a series of economic blows to the country that ruined the economy and caused prolonged problems after the crash of the stock market. It lasted from 1929 to 1939, and was one of the most severe economic tragedies ever to occur in America. There are many different perspectives on how World War II affected the Great Depression. Another perspective believes that WWII just made the Great Depression worse by increasing America’s national debt, pushing the country even further back. That perspective believes that the Great Depression ended through economic competition and business, lowering taxes, and increasing investment.

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

If there can be any period in time described as hell for America, the Great Depression is argubly the best contender for the description. There were six main causes of the Great Depression, which were: bank failures; the stock market crash; Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board; American Economic Policy with Europe; the increasing gap of socio-economic power between the rich and poor; and upcoming drought conditions. At the start of the Great Depression the president was Herbert Hoover, who believed that that the American public would only truly be out of the Great Depression through “rugged individualism” - the idea that the US citizens would only succeed though their own efforts. In other words he believed that people should not be “babied”

The collapse of the stock market in 1929 marked the downfall of America along with the constant dustbowls. Document 3 shows a chart of the stock market crash of 1929 and how it increased the rate of unemployment in the United States. It

The 1920s seemed to promise a future of a new and wonderful way of life for America and its citizens . Modern science, evolving cultural norms, industrialization, and even jazz music heralded exciting opportunities and a future that only pointed up toward a better life. However, cracks in the facade started to show, and beginning with the stock market crash of 1929 the wealth of the country, and with it the hopes and expectations of its people, began to slip away. The Great Depression left a quarter of the population unemployed and much of the rest destitute and uncertain of what the future held. Wealth vanished, people took their money out of banks, and plans were put on hold. The most significant way in which the Great Depression affected Americans’ everyday lives was through poverty because it tore relationships apart and damaged the spirit of society while unexpectedly bringing families together in unity.

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.

To put it another way, 12,830,00 were unemployed in 1933 (Carter, Jimmy). On the contrary, if those who worked, they had extremely small wages. Nonetheless, millions of people were migrating across the nation to seek for food or jobs. Especially in 1930-36, More than a million acres of farmland were rendered useless in the Southwest and Midwest, of course hundreds of thousands of farmers joined the ranks of unemployed ( “Causes of the Great Depression” 2016.) . Oakies, migrant agricultural workers from Oklahoma, were migrating the west, few found jobs. Since there were no jobs available, families often couldn’t afford for food. For example, Boyer and Stuckey (2003) wrote, “ Poverty-stricken men and women waited in bread lines for bowls of soup and pieces of bread given out by charitable organizations (p. 450).” People leaving homes due to payments of rents moved to Shantytowns, makeshift shelters. This also made families fall apart. Shantytowns were also called Hoovervilles, because they were blaming an unresponsive president for their plight. To end that, percentage of unemployment remained

From 1929 to 1945, two catastrophes occurred: the Great Depression and World War II. American political leaders established a cause-effect relationship between economic collapse and total war, based on these two events, which defined their policy approach in the post-war period. In the 1930s, American leadership, and most importantly, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, came to view economic decline, political radicalization, and instability as forming a vicious cycle that led to utter chaos and war. Although FDR did not know the future consequences of the economic fallout, he did know that breaking the cycle was of systemic importance. FDR’s policy platform, known as the New Deal, disregarded the historical wariness for government intervention and boldly connected economic security to freedom. Essentially, he attempted to push the American system to its limit in order to save it. Even with conservative elements constantly attempting to restrain his initiatives, FDR expanded his focus in the latter years of the 1930s to include international affairs as war broke out in Europe, Africa, and Asia. FDR and other government elites openly talked about the responsibility America had to build a new world order.

Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.

The Great Depression was a difficult time for all the American people. It was a time of unemployment, falling wages, and hope for recovery (“Chapter 27”). Some of the causes of the Great Depression were government policies, economic factors, and the gold standard (“Chapter 27”). Other reasons included the fall of the stock market, overseas investments, and the investments in Florida real estate (Farless). The president at the time of this difficult time was President Herbert Hoover. When the Great Depression started, Herbert Hoover took matters into his own hands. President Herbert Hoover came up with multiple recovery attempts.

The Great Depression brought about high unemployment due to the stock market crash of 1929. The average U.S. unemployment rate in 1931 at the start of the Great Depression was 15% and at the end of the Great Depression in 1939; the rate was 17%. Powell (2003) wrote, “The most troubling issue has been the persistence of high unemployment throughout the New Deal period. From 1934 to 1940, the median annual unemployment rate was 17.2 percent.” (p. 129)

The stock market crash of 1929 sent the nation spiraling into a state of economic paralysis that became known as the Great Depression. As industries shrank and businesses collapsed or cut back, up to 25% of Americans were left unemployed. At the same time, the financial crisis destroyed the life savings of countless Americans (Modern American Poetry). Food, housing and other consumable goods were in short supply for most people (Zinn 282). This widespread state of poverty had serious social repercussions for the country.

For example, when a good is scarce, the prices goes up, so consumers try to avoid buying and therefore conserving the resource. Then, the suppliers want to find more of the source as to get a better profit. The reasons behind their actions are selfish, yet they benefit all of society. Smith identified that the pursuit of profit and the power of self-interest would increase motivation and result in more advances in technology. His model of capitalism was on the basis of freedom and selfishness as a motivator for society. It was also on the basis that the economy would go through recessions and expansions but fix itself. Recessions are periods in the economy in which unemployment goes up, while profits and spending goes down; a slowdown of the economy. An expansion is essentially the exact opposite. The classical model of economics states that the economy will continue to go through these fluctuations over time and will fix itself with no help, thus not needing a government to give influence.