Melancholia And The Mental Illness Of Depression

The Great Depression left the American banking system in shambles and left the American people broken and scared for their futures. There were several causes that led up to the enactment of the New Deal and the Social Security Act. A major cause was "Black Tuesday." This was the largest stock market crash in U.S. history that took place on October 29, 1929. The crash happened because wealthy Americans used their revenue to speculate in real estate and the stock market rather than invest in new businesses. Another cause was U.S. banks issuing loans and credits to foreign governments in the amount of billions of dollars. Prior to the Great Depression and the enactment of the FERA, relief was based on the poor laws.

The Great Depression, which lasted from about 1929 to 1939, began when the American Stock market bottomed out. Even though only three present of Americans had money in the Stock Market, banks at that time were allowed to invest in the stock market . Therefore many banks fell , which included the loss of many American’s banked money. Factories shut down, and businesses closed, unemployment was reported at 25%, but in areas the experienced the Dust Bowl, this number seems optimistic. America caused a global depression as well.

The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. However, many wonder what was the cause of such economic downfall. According to Source A one of the reasons was that “There was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold - - a rush so great that the soundest banks

The scale of the depression had multiple causes, such as: unregulated banks, American debt, and poor help by the government. Unregulated banks led to many bank failures, especially in rural areas. (Luke). Andrew Jackson’s anti-bank ideas didn’t turn out as good as he probably thought it would. The fact that banks were mostly unsupported by the government, they didn’t have

The causes of the Great Depression in the early 20th century is a matter of active debate between economists. Although the popular belief is that the main cause was the crashing Stock Market in 1929 caused the Great Depression, There were other major economic events that contributed just as much as the crash, such as American’s overextension of credit, an unequal distribution of wealth, over production of goods, and a severe drop in business revenue. As these events transpired the state of economic crisis in the US began to skyrocket.

In 1929 the Stock Market crashed was said to have “ushered in” the Great Depression. After Wall Street and the Stock Market crash of 1929, the banks began to fail. By 1933 over half of the banks in the United States had failed and went out of business. The economy came to a full stop as businesses could no longer access credit lines to purchase inventory, checks were no longer accepted as currency due to the multitude of failing financial institutions which led to an unemployment rate reported to be as much as 30 percent of the available workforce. (“First measured century: Timeline,” n.d.)

One big question of the great depression is what where the causes of it? Firstly banks invested in the stock market. You’re probably asking “what’s wrong with that?” well the bank loaned money to people investing in the stock market . The money that the bank loaned to people was essentially money from other people whose money was in the bank . The federal government increased the making of money in the 1920s because the economy

The Great Depression was the worst period of economic decline in U.S. history. It began on October 29th, 1929, and was officially declared over, in the year 1939, once the second World War was commenced. There were many factors that both influenced, and made the Great Depression even worse. A few examples of this are: During this time period, many Americans had money invested in the stock market, and once they saw that somebody else began to sell their stocks, they sold their own. On October 29th, people began to sell their stocks at an extremely rapid rate. Due to the rapid rate of stocks being sold, people lost countless amounts of money, and eventually ran to the bank to take out whatever they had in there. However, these banks were

The Great Depression of the 1930s was caused by a sequence of events that all began with the stock market crash of 1929. The crash consisted of a rapidly declining stock market in the fall and a multitude of crashes in the month of October. All of this devastated the economy and resulted in bank failures, reduction in consumption and buying of goods, and an extremely high unemployment rate. Most banks closed but those that survived were: “unsure of the economic situation and concerned for their own survival, [banks] became unwilling to lend money” (Kelly). This meant that banks no longer trusted that their loans would be paid back and feared closing down so they became very frugal.

Debts, especially consumer debts, added to the number of bank failures during the Great Depression, totaling above 9,000 banks. When a consumer wanted an item that they could not afford, like land and seeds, vacuum cleaners, or cars, they would buy it on credit or loan. When people took out loans, the bank gave the consumer the deposit of another customer who banked with them. Then, when the customer wanted to take out their money, the bank did not have the apposite money to give them. If the money given to the consumer was not paid off when the consumer, who bought the item on credit, filed for bankruptcy, the bank then had to shut down because it had no money to give its customers.

Failure of the banks was a great contributor to the depression. Because of the distrust in the banks after the stock market crash in 1929, many Americans pulled out all of their money, which meant that the banks could not lend out money because they did not have it. And so the economy plummeted into an all time low. Many Americans were left penniless even though many of them saved up money. Document G shows how many Americans felt about how they had saved money but still lost everything to the depression. The 1920’s was a very successful decade for America because of its strong bull market. Advertising, along with installment buying led to an astronomical growth in the economy because Americans were buying more than ever before. Installment

During the Great Depression, thirteen million Americans lost their jobs, one million families lost their farms, 273,000 families were evicted from their homes, and four thousand banks closed (“The Great Depression Facts”).The stock market crashed on October 29,1929. This caused an abrupt panic all throughout Wall Street. Due to this event, investors were forced to quickly withdraw their shares.This extreme loss lead to an even greater economic collapse. Ultimately, this caused citizens to flood their nearby banks with distress. The surprising amount of withdrawals made banks begin to lose the money that they had (“The Great Depression”). The Great Depression brought a downfall to the economy, made the citizens of the US feel hopeless, and challenged American families.

Banks were a significant cause of the Great Depression because many people started making loans and buying on margin. Banks would loan out other people’s money and those people would buy stocks and farms. When the stock market crashed, people lost their savings and homes and were unable to get back their money. Out of 25,000 banks, only 11,000 still remained. The women of this period were substantially affected because their husbands lost money and were unable to provide for the family. Just like the loss of jobs, husbands abandoned their families and became hoboes. Because there was no one to provide for the family, women had to work for less pay. Even if women found jobs, many were discriminated because other men believed jobs should be reserved for men to help support their families. Women started to feel ashamed for asking for handouts. As a result, women starved themselves and stayed in cold attics. Finally, consumer spending caused the Great Depression. In the 1930s, many people started buying on credit, meaning they spend now and pay the bank later. They bought on credit because prices started increasing but their wages stayed the same. Once people maxed out their credit, they reduced

Many factors led to the Great Depression. The economy began to crumple in October of 1929 when the stock market erupted. Millions of shares were sold, hurting the economy enormously. As a result of the stock market scare, companies started to bring their production to a halt and let go of many of their workers. For those who still remained employed, their income was lowered. Some businesses went

There are various factors that led to the Great Depression. To begin, the lack of bank regulation was a big factor. The Federal Reserve Act which made banks have money on reserve, was not enforced. Another big factor was easy credit, Easy credit made it easy for people to get money out the bank without having the money to pay it back. Furthermore, the reduction in purchasing across the board can easily be said to be another key factor. With the stock market being down many people within every social class stop purchasing items. Which would cause a decreased not only the number of items being purchased but also the loss of people jobs. Many people had thing on layaway, so usually they would just pay for it monthly. However once they lost their