The Great Depression Essay

The Great Depression is probably one of the most misunderstood events in American history. It is routinely cited, as proof that unregulated capitalism is not the best in the world, and that only a massive welfare state, huge amounts of economic regulation, and other interventions can save capitalism from itself. The Great Depression had important consequences and was a devastating event in America, however many good policies and programs became available as a result of the great depression, some of which exist even today.

Due to the lack of jobs endless people were homeless. Government agencies were in charge of helping people pay their mortgages and provided housing for the displaced. Document D it was stated that “New Deal was both a set of ideas and diverse programs”. This quote shows that the government was trying to solve the issues within the Great Depression. Housing was temporary, but some were denied because of overcrowding. Many people turned to the government for housing assistance because people did not have money to keep up with housing payments. In the end it couldn’t have been as effective because everything was temporary and everybody didn’t get in on the opportunities because so many people needed finical

The Great Depression brought hunger, homelessness, and hardship to millions of Americans. One quarter of the country was unemployed, and over one million families lost their farms. People struggled to make enough money just to buy food to stay alive. Even bakers could not buy their own bread. The government did little to stop the suffering.

During the Great Depression, Americans had to do whatever they can do to survive. They tried farming vegetables however, it resulted in them eating the vegetables before they were even ripe. There was an incredible amount of hunger in the US. The lines for just soup were horrendous. Serving only certain amounts of people in certain

At the worst point of the Great Depression there were million people unemployed in the U.S. Unemployment rates for African Americans and Latinos were higher than most americans. Without jobs there was no money coming into the households and for this reason many people could not pay their mortgage, some were enticed from their homes and lived on the street, in their cars, or in hoovervilles. Inside the home family life was bleak, many people put off getting married, raising large families, or having families at all. Thousands of people held off going to college and almost all women were ashamed to reveal their hardship. The physical and emotional health of the people was shattered, adults stopped going to the dentist and doctors because they couldn’t afford it. Poor diets and lack of milk consumption led to malnutrition, diet related diseases and other serious health problems. Some people even lost the will to survive, the suicide rate rose 50%. The stigma of poverty never left some people and habits of saving everything developed. Racial violence increased by unemployed whites looking for the same jobs, huge numbers of people with Mexican descent were deported. For the farmers it wasn’t any better, most could manage to still feed their families, but crop prices kept falling and farmers kept losing their land. They couldn’t pay their debts and in turn 400,000 farms were foreclosed between

     The Great Depression was a huge economic downfall in North America and involved many other industrialized countries of the world. The Depression began in 1929 and lasted for about ten years. Millions of people lost their jobs along with many businesses going bankrupt. The common misconception of the Great Depression is people think that the stock market crash was the main cause for it. There were many causes for the Depression; unequal distribution of money during the 1920’s was the main cause of the Depression. This unequal distribution happened on many different classes of people. The imbalance of money is what created such an unstable economy. The stock market was doing much worse than people thought

The Great Depression that struck America from 1929-1939 made a huge impact on the country both economically and socially. Events such as speculation, high amounts of people investing in the stock market with credit, and the stock market crashes were major contributors to the depression. The crashes brought the national banking crisis which made unemployment in the country very common. For many Americans, the false prosperity they had experienced in the 1920s came crashing down on them much like a tidal wave, and as a result, many families were affected by the depression. Therefore, the Great Depression caused a major transformation of what was considered the typical American family.

The Great Depression took an enormous toll on the people living through it. The people living through the great depression had to suffer for years with little income and pocket-sized savings. People were obligated to, “cut back on everything possible.” Farmers lost money due to no rain for crops to grow, and nevertheless tried to take out loans from the government. Some buildings like the Marion Building and Loan went bankrupt, putting jobs in jeopardy. The people living through The Great Depression learned to live with almost nothing. The people were able to pull the economy together and stop The Great Depression, but consequently the bad majorly outweighs the good.

The Great Depression was a time when a lot of us citizens were unemployed we would all wanted a job in order to survive so when there was a job opening the people would go out and apply for the same job. The unemployment rate was I out of 4 Americans in the time of the Great Depression. Some that were lucky enough got a job at a place called as “Hoovervilles” (shantytown) or outside of town. As unemployment rose those the working wages went decreasing for those who worked. Some of the jobs that were available were Farming Labor

When the depression hit, the life of the American home changed drastically. Neighbors began to see families becoming homeless who were just fine the other day. With the birthrate dropping, and suicide rates going up, many children faced a type of family known today as a broken home. Many people lost hope, however through the guidance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, families received relief. Young Americans found work through CCC and other government programs. World War II began and actually helped the United States get out the depression. When the war ended, the United States experienced another feel-good era, leading to the creation of the Boomer Generation.

The existing relief programs where inadequate to deal with the increased volume and type of people in need during the Great Depression. The number of people in need doubled and the demographic changed from mainly elderly and single mothers to all walks of life, shaking Americans belief that if a man worked hard he would be able to provide for his family. The charities, state and local government entities that had cared for the needy before were no longer able to keep pace with the growing demand because everyone was affected.

Hunger, uncleanliness, homelessness and poverty were widespread across the world.The Great Depression had a negative effect on every living American from every walk of life. It began in October 1929 shortly after the stock market crashed. Jobs were lost, businesses were shut down and people were left with nothing. In 1930 there was a drought which caused the Agricultural Depression. Along with the stock market crash this was a major factor in the Great Depression.

With the effects of the Great Depression, people had to live with no money. With the stocks crashing and no blue collar jobs, soup kitchens opened up and they had to do odd jobs to have any money or even free food but that was likely not even possible. The banks closed and people lost everything they had. the people couldn’t go into their houses because the banks took them back.

Everyone who had all their money in banks lost every single penny; and they were never to get it all back. The reason the Great Depression played a big role in poverty is because after everyone lost their money, they were not able to pay for their food, rent or anything else so tons of people were kicked out of their houses and left on the streets.

A significant effect of the Great Depression on Germany was the economic impact. Initially, the Wall Street Crash affected the USA the hardest, and they withdrew their loans from Germany. These loans were what made the economy in Germany recover after the war and with the reparations they were facing. Industries that had been heavily relying on the loans started to go bust and unemployment rose from 2-3 million in the Spring of 1929 to 8.5 million, with a third of the entire workforce being laid off by 1932. Those still employed had shorter work days from an average of 7.5 hours a day to 6, which resulted in wage cuts. 800,000 white collar workers were fired and shopkeepers’ incomes fell by 50% and many were living in poverty. Industrial production was now 40% of the pre-1929 levels. In 1931 the Austrian Bank Creditanstalt collapsed, declaring losses of $20 million, followed by many major German banks collapsing. Foreign trade slowed to a halt and all of Germany’s overseas markets were lost. In order to stabilise the economy, the new chancellor Heinrich Bruning introduced austerity policies. This included a 30% cutback in welfare and raising taxes, which was very unpopular amongst the German people. A cut in public spending lead to social misery in all classes.