The Great Depression and the Great Recession

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.

•Germany and other European nations’ banks became weak. Trade slowed, industrial production declined, and unemployment rose.

This eventually affected big companies, which led in decrease in production and fired many employees. The unemployment rose higher than twenty five percent, which meant less money to hover up this economic situation.

When the stock market crashed and the worries regarding more economic decline, people from all classes stopped purchasing consumer products. Which lead to reduction in consumer products being made, this caused a reduction in the workforce. As people lost their jobs they were unable to pay for the items that were bought on credit. The unemployment rate rose and cause even less spending to assist to lesson the economic situation.

The Great Depression of the 1930’s was caused by many problems. They include overproduction, monetary policy, war debt, tariffs, the stock market crash, and unequal distribution of wealth. These each play a specific and intricate role in bringing the U.S economy to its knees.

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

Throughout the many years of the Great Depression, the American economy plummeted greatly because of ongoing issues throughout the United States. The American market, and essentially continuously buying, are what keeps an economy in any country moving. The point at issue which allowed the economy to go down consists of three major factors. All three of these aspects took a great amount of citizens down along with all of their profits. Families, businesses, and employees struggled to stay standing during this time period. The American economy suffered this vast plunge because speculation in the stock market, maldistribution of income, and overproduction of goods.

With the economy falling in shambles and companies defaulting on loans, nearly all private and corporate investment ceased. Companies couldn’t afford to expand, and in fact, many had to consolidate in order to cover the margins on their loans. This meant postponing hiring and laying workers off, which caused unemployment to skyrocket. With people now willing to work for less money, wages lessened too. At the same time prices rose in an attempt by companies to make some amount of profit off the goods.

Uneven distribution of wealth serves as another cause of the Great Depression. America was wealthy in the 1920s, but this wealth did not extend to all segment of the society. The gains made by wealthy Americans in the 1920s far outstripped gained made by the working class. By the time of the stock market crash, the upper one percent of the population controlled over sixty percent of the nation’s savings. On the other hand, over three quarters of American families made less than $3000 a year. Problems that could develop from this situation were obvious. The bottom-line three-quarters of families were too poor to purchase much to help the economics to flourish. Underconsumption, in the long run, was a vicious circle to the economy. People had no money to spend. The income of many firms dwindled. More people were laid off or cut hours and thus further cut their spending. The economics became stagnant.

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.

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.

America’s Great Depression is believed as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ending in 1941 with America’s entry into World War II. In order to fully comprehend the repercussions and devastating effects of the Crash of 1929, it is important to examine the factors that contributed to the catastrophic event which led to The Great Depression. The Great Depression was the worst economic slump in U.S. history, and it spread to most of the industrialized world. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s, and the

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

businesses and economic affairs. Depression hurt a lot of people, especially working people who lose there jobs. Bank failures clean out some depositors savings if

Imagine waking up one morning, only to find out that all your investments and savings are gone. So if your bank that you invested all your money in collapsed, you didn’t get any money back. This is what happened to millions of Americans during the 1930s. This era was called the great depression.