Quincy Terrell Mrs. Stevens English III 10 December 2010 American’s Greed Leads to Poverty Republican nominee Herbert Hoover shared some hopeful words with Americans in 1928. He said that the day was in sight “when poverty will be banished from this nation.” This turned out to be was wishful thinking. One percent of the richest families in America during this time received one fourth of all U.S. income (Brinkley2). Buying stocks on margin became very popular during the 1920s. People began to abuse this system to invest huge amounts of imaginary money that only existed on paper, which back fired when the prices of stocks began to fall and they did not have money to pay for the stocks purchased (Lonkevich4).
The event that started the Great Depression was “Black Tuesday.” On this day, the stock market crashed. The so called “bubble” had burst. The roaring twenties were over. Banks were forced to close, as they had no more money for the massive amount of people that were making withdrawals. Many lost their jobs, and were forced to look for work elsewhere.
Trolley service was completely cut by a sympathy strike a short time after the negotiations began. The power strike also caused other strikes to follow; like when the city’s eight major hotels to close when hotel restaurant employees walked off their jobs to enforce wage demands. The Pittsburgh power strike of 1946 was a just one of the many strike during 1946. The United States was at a time where it was just coming out of the war, and workers went one strike because they knew they could get more money out of their employers. Work Cited
In the year of 1877, employees working for the four largest railroads went on strike due to the fact that their employers cut their wages by 10 percent; this was known as the Great Rail Road Strike. This strike was unsuccessful because it got out of hand, and President Hayes called in the federal troops to quell the unrest brought by the striking laborers. Because of the failure of the Great Rail Road
It recognised that the industry needed to be reorganised but rejected the suggestion of nationalization. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners' wages should be reduced. The leaders of the miners and the TUC refused to accept the report and the threatened a nationwide General Strike which inevitably took place in May 1926. Workers were adamant they weren’t going to work for these wages and as a result they protested which gained heavy media coverage, there famous slogan which showed they weren't going to put up with these unreasonable wage amounts was “Not a penny off the pay, not who persisted to protest without jobs. These are most important reasons h resulted in the TUC calling a general strike in 1926.
It did not only affect Americans, but also the whole world. The Great Depression was caused by the crash of the stock market or the lack of real investment opportunities in the 1920’s, product innovation that caused less labor, President Roosevelt believed that it was caused by the structural problems and doubted simulative spending will solve the problem, and some argued it was caused by the shift toward modern employment relation that was made by the Great War. A Depression in the economy can start by raising taxes and dismissing government’s employees and both of these actions can start a depression and both of these were done by the government in 1929. Once this is done, it will have a chain reaction where it will get to the point where the economy will fall and cause its people to live in poverty. The prices of the products will either increase or stay the same but the wages of the people will always decrease.
Known also as Black Tuesday, October 29th left stockholders shattered with recorded losses reaching $40 billion dollars (Kelly, n.d.). Many banks and financial institutions began collapsing which led to irretrievable, uninsured deposits and savings. Fearing further loss, people began spending less which led to a decrease in production and an increase in unemployment. As companies began to fail, the government devised the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in order to protect American businesses. The Tariff placed high taxes on imports leading to a decline in international trade.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Impact On the Great Depression By: Alysha Burnett During the 1930’s, the United States faced a terrifying economic decline due to the sudden decrease in stock prices. This defining event not only affected the Americans but also several other nations around the world. In the U.S., millions of people were unemployed and lost their homes due to the businesses failing and the dramatic halt of the construction companies. As a result, many people found themselves becoming immensely dependent on their new President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt to bring them out of the isolation, poverty, and economic distress. By electing Roosevelt, the Americans lives were in for a positive change.
And su ragists, after decades of political activism, succeeded in getting approval of a constitutional amendment in 1920 that gave women the right to vote. The good times did not last. The value of many stocks, which had become arti cially in ated, fell dramatically in October 1929. Over the next three years, the business recession in America became part of a worldwide economic depression. Businesses and factories shut down, banks failed, farm income dropped.
The New Deal v Primary Sources v Franklin D. Roosevelt was governor of New York, when the Wall Street Crash in October 1929, created the worst depression in American history. Roosevelt made strenuous attempts to help those without work. He set up the New York State Emergency Relief Commission and appointed the respected Harry Hopkins to run the agency. Another popular figure with a good record for helping the disadvantaged, Frances Perkins, was recruited to the team as state industrial commissioner. With the help of Hopkins and Perkins, Roosevelt introduced help for the unemployed and those too old to work.