Perhaps the worst economic downturn in the history of the United States occurred from 1930-1939. The Great Depression led to domestic and international crises effecting the poor and wealthy alike. Many financial experts today continue to debate the cause of The Depression, although most agree that several events led to the economic decline. The famous stock market crash on October 29, 1929 is just one of many causes economists believe led to The Great Depression. Known also as Black Tuesday, October 29th left stockholders shattered with recorded losses reaching $40 billion dollars (Kelly, n.d.).
Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60%. There were many causes of the Great Depression, ranging from poor spending and over production to banks failing and the stock market crashing. Paragraph 2: Due to the Roaring 20’s, people were overconfident due to the information given by bad leaders, which led to poor spending. Doc A+B: According to the business cycle, there was going to be a 5 year growth for everyone in the US. -They would all become rich and poverty would just go away (Words of President Calvin Coolidge) Doc C: John T. Raskob, a well-known economist, told people to buy more stocks and in invest in banks and you’ll become a millionaire.
The collapse of the housing market and unemployment caused the most damage. Between 1991 to 1992 unemployment had gone back up to 2.6 million. Negative equity meant home owner were paying mortgages far higher than their homes were worth. Many people could simply not keep up with the increased prices and resulted in them losing their homes due to the bank repossessing them. The recession hit close to home for the Tories, effecting the middle class not just the working class of the industrial north.
The “Forgotten Country” of Djibouti The small country of Djibouti, that is often referred to as the “forgotten country” is plagued by social, economic and environmental factors. With a drug addiction that is accepted as a social norm to an opiate based drug called khat, the population has stifled itself. The poverty caused partly by a Civil War has left a devastating mark on the economy. The high mortality rate can be attributed to disease, lack of sanitation and readily available medicine. It is important to look at how a population’s addiction to drugs, poverty and high mortality rate can affect the overall success of a nation.
It caused unemployment rates to rise, reaching as high as 25%. This, in turn, impacted family life, leaving many to live in extremely harsh conditions. It also affected social life, due to the fact that the gap between the rich and working-class widened. It truly was a catastrophe which impacted all. After the crash of the stock markets, the demand for agricultural goods during WWI disappeared, and as a result, rural areas of America experienced severe adversity.
Hurricane Katrina became known as one of the most disastrous and expensive natural disasters in US history. Four months after the storm hit, the death toll was over 1,300 with hundreds still missing and the estimated property damage exceeded $75 billion. It also became one of embarrassment for our country due to our government’s failure to properly respond and poor communications. There are many lessons we can learn from their poor response, including how to properly assess risk, plan in a timely manner, and communicate effectively. Since New Orleans primarily lies below sea level, the protective barriers or levee systems should have been assessed to determine the winds it was capable of withstanding.
Since the Bush Administration broke America’s budget, our economy is going down the drain. “With all of the debate about taxes, the economy and domestic spending, it is hard to imagine anyone supporting the notion of taking money from programs like Medicaid and college – tuition assistance, increasing the burden of the vast majority of working Americans, sending the country into a crashing debt.”(Bush Economy 1) “During the Bush years, the two main sources of class mobility – a good job and money for higher education – have increasingly failed…” (Bush Economy 4) “But the share of economic growth that is going toward corporate profits, which flow to stockholders and bondholders.” (Bush Economy 5) If the economy keeps breaking down like it is now then our generation will have to fix it all. Right now our generation is facing a crisis which we will have to fix or else we’ll end up with no money, no job and no shelter and food. Actually the whole world will be broke, not just America; right now there are other countries that layoff people from their jobs. The only reason why those countries are laying off the workers is because America
The Great Depression was the worst economic disaster in American history. A variety of factors led up to it, including a dangerous amount of stock market speculation and an excessive lending of credit. Other contributing factors were a weak farm economy, lack of government regulation of business, and high tariffs. Unemployment rose as high as twenty-five percent of the workforce and the U.S Gross National Product dropped from $104 billion to $56 billion. This huge depression eventually expanded across the globe, leading to a worldwide economic crisis.
These numbers mean tragic and brutal deaths in addition to the separation of countless families. Equally abhorring is the repercussion of chemical warfare. According to Jason Grotto in his newspaper article, ”A Tainted Peace”, thousands of gallons of herbicides and defoliants were sprayed over fields of crop and villages by the U.S. to target the Vietcong—southern Vietnamese rebels who supported communism—and their food supply (1). The result of the spraying is indisputable as stated by Grotto that 5 out of every 100 children in Vietnam are born some form of physical or mental abnormality, a four times increase since the start of the war (1). This places an immense strain on society as so many children are born with severe deformities—including babies born with organs on the outside and missing external body parts.
Photos of the Great Depression The Great Depression Era was a time when our nation was in a drastic economic decline and many people throughout it were severely affected by this radical change in our economy. Many Americans lost their jobs and were forced to survive on any means necessary. The only way people today can reflect on just how tough a time this was is through the media that was captured during this era. The photographs that were taken by Roosevelt’s team of photographers he funded through his New Deal are the best records that we have today of just what Depression era Americans endured and just what their lives were like during this time period. Under Roosevelt’s New Deal, he created the Farm Security Administration