What Caused The Great Depression Research Paper

1023 Words5 Pages
In October of 1929, the worst and longest depression of American History began. The Great Depression marked the end of the roaring twenties and the beginning of what would become a very long economic struggle. The depression began when the stock market crashed. Many investors dumped their stocks and ran for the banks to clean out their bank accounts because most of them bought stocks on margin and were going to lose all of their money. So many people were afraid and did this that there were many banks that ran out of money to give people and had to close. The consumer confidence was down which meant that their spending was down. If consumers were not buying, industries ended up overproducing and many had to close. The industries that…show more content…
The largest cause was the crash of the stock market as well as “panics” by the banks. Some economists had their own beliefs about why the country had such economic troubles. Some believed that overproduction was a major factor meaning consumers did not want to consume all that was being produced. Factories would produce excess amounts of goods and it would just sit around because people in the society were not spending money. The people who were spending money were the poor more often than the rich; the poor were getting poorer and the rich were essentially becoming richer because even though there was no money to make, they were not spending. In the 1980s and 90s, economists argued that the Federal Reserve had caused banks to decrease their willingness to loan money, which lead to a severe decrease in consumption and in investment because no one had any money to spend. (Szostak 2003). Many people also blamed Hoover for the recession. Hoover was the president at the time. People named sad pathetic things resulting from the Great Depression after him. For example, empty pockets were referred to as Hoover…show more content…
Most bought their stocks on margin which means they still owe money. When the stock market crashed, the value of their stocks went down but they still had to pay every penny that they owed before even though the value went down. Many people panicked and tried to all sell their stocks at the same time which brought the prices and values down even more. The Great Depression had a huge effect on businesses because it they lost their fortune and many went bankrupt. They were forced to lay off all of their workers and close down. Unemployment was a major effect on many Americans during the depression. Unemployment affected the middle class the most. By 1933 nearly 40-50% of American’s were unemployed. The Great Depression also severely impacted the lives of farmers. Farmers could no longer afford their land so they had to move away and this led to more problems such as foreclosure and starvation. Farms became vacant which created dust bowls which were basically sandstorms that made a huge mess of the air. The Great Depression had a huge effect on the whole world but mostly the United States. There were not only economic effects but also psychological, cultural, and political effects as well. In the United States there was nothing as severe as Nazi Germany going on. FDR proposed many programs to help get the US back on track but his number one focus was to balance the budget. This is why Americans voted
Open Document