Essay on The Great Depression

Following the economic boom of the 1920s, there was a period of economic depression. The United States and its citizens were greatly affected. There were many economic problems that occurred such as unemployment rate rising tremendously and many more. Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt were presidents during that time and dealt with the economic problems. They helped create programs to financially stabilize the country again. The Great Depression ended when the United States entered World War II.

h, stocks were not the only reason people had no money. Credit and banks failing had a huge part in that as well. “Banks stopped lending money. In 1930 and 1931, many banks failed, and customers lost all their

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.

These periods of financial panics along with the inelastic money supply had long beleaguered the country. Bank failures, business bankruptcies, and unstable economic development were results of the lack of a central banking system (Federal Reserve System 8th ed. pp. 6-7). The Panic of 1907 was a bank run of epic proportions that exacerbated the problem. Depositors withdrew their savings from the second and third largest banks in the country. These banks were not able to generate enough funds to cover the demand and subsequently closed their doors. Their closings rapidly spread fear across the country leading to one of the largest runs on the banks the nation had ever witnessed (Schlesinger pp. 41).

The Great Depression- The Great Depression was one of the worst times for the Western Industrialized World, when it came to its economy The depression originated in the U.S, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929. Cities were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. The Great Depression affected anybody that was indebted. Some countries affected; Canada, Germany, Great Britain. Not everyone was affected in the same way during the Great Depression. Many of the rich weren't affected at all but the poor couldn't do anything about it. Thousands of homeless families camped out on the Green Law in New York City, which was an empty reservoir during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, manufacturing employees earned about $17 per week. Doctors earned around $61

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

As prices would go down farmers produced more to try and make up for it, except that as they produced more prices dropped. Fourth was that the bands were unstable. They would loan out way too much money riskily and have a low amount of reserves since there was little enforcement for these types of bank regulation. The one who was supposed to regulate them was a large business owner himself and he wasn’t to keen on interfering with business. Wo when the economy slowed down and people went back to the banks to get their money there was none to take, forcing the banks to start calling back in loans and foreclosing on people. Even with that banks still didn’t have enough money so they had to close, leaving a lot of people without money. Fifth was overspeculation which included a lot of consumer credit and margin buying. This fits in with the last explanation of what happens when the banks had to start calling in loans, but no one had the money to pay it so many were foreclosed on. Sixth was that there was a sort of overconfidence in the American people. They had this false belief that the economy was going to keep growing so they failed to save enough money to withstand the slowdown. All of these weaknesses in the 1920’s economy led to a greater slowdown of the economy leading into the Great Depression.

Many people lost as much as ten times their initial investment, which shook consumer confidence. In an effort to cover their margins, people rushed the banks in masses, demanding their money. Soon, banks began to run out of cash and went bust.

The banking industry as a whole after the stock market crashed was going bankrupt due to not being able to carry the “bad debt” that was created from using customer money to buy stock. Because the banks were out of money, they were unable to cover customer withdrawals from their bank, causing many bank customers to lose all of their savings. With the uncertainty of the future of the banking industry, many people withdrew all of their savings, which caused more than 9,000 banks to close their doors and go out of business (Kelly). Due to the effects of the Great Depression, and the collapse of the banking industry, the government created regulations to prevent similar failure in the future. For Example, the SEC, (or Securities Exchange Commission), which regulates the sell and trade of stocks, bonds and other investments was created as a result of The Great Depression. The FDIC (or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), was created to insure bank accounts so that that the consumer would be protected if the bank were to go out of business (Kelly). The Great Depression's effect on the banking industry led to many useful changes to the banking industry and helped restore confidence in banks in the American people.

The world had faced two main economic problems. The first one was the Great Depression in the early of 20th Century. The second was the recent international financial crisis in 2008. The United States and Europe suffered severely for a long time from the great depression. The great depression was a great step and changed completely the economic policy making and the economic thoughts. It was not only an economic situation bit it was also miserable making, made people more attention and aggressive until they might lose their lives. All the society was frightened from losing money, work and stable. In America the housing market was the main factor of the great depression. A crisis of liquidity appeared in the banks forming a credit crunch. This period was influenced by over extended stock market shortage of water in the south and over trusting. The American government put down some regulations to control the productions which were essential for the war.

To begin, it’s important to understand what the banks were like before the crash. Banks were closing during the 1920s but not a devastating rate. “In the 1920s, almost 600 banks failed every year” (“Banking 1929-1941” ). People didn’t have much to blame for these banks failing so they just blamed it by saying that it was just local failures. What a lot of people missed where examples of the weak state of the banking system. The showing of public confidence towards the banks was at an all time high and everybody trusted the banks. A lot of banks were also being made to make up for these fails. This shows the banks before the crash that showed very little of the Depression but a lot of people missed it.

The Bank of the United States is a symbol of the long held American fear of centralization and government control. The bank was an attempt to bring some stability and control and was successful at doing this. However, both times the bank was chartered, forces within the economy ultimately destroyed it. The fear of centralization and control was ultimately detrimental to the U.S. economy.

Bank Failures (Over 9,000 banks in the US and over 100,000 around the world failed as deposits were uninsured and people lost their savings. The surviving banks unsure of the economic situation and concerned for their own survival refused to

There were many primary causes for The Great Depression, Unequal distribution of money to the economy,

Banks continue to believe that if they fail again, they will get another batch of free government money to help them out. Credit agencies freely admit this in their reports about major banks (Barofsky). As Samuelson simply states, “Fear is a great motivator”. The fear of no longer having a job or a company motivated the auto industry to change to be competitive. Wall Street faces no such fear. Decades and decades of bailouts have proven that they can do what they want without the fear of losing their jobs (Barofsky). Fear is the great motivator of capitalism, and the lack of fear on Wall Street has resulted in banks abusing their size to pressure the federal government into even more