The Great Depression in American History Rabourn B4

**aqalieh95** Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:39 pm

The Great Depression
Why?

Demand for new houses slowed down
There is less demand for cars, workers get laid off
Farmers' income plummets, can't repay their loans or buy new equipment anymore
Wealthy people bought stocks and didn't do anything to improve the condition of the unemployed
Businesses kept costs hight but wages low, so they had less sales
Foreign banks couldn't pay off loans to the US

What?

The Stock Market crashed in 1929
Lots of people lost their savings, and went in debt
Andrew Mellon convinced the president to make the government do nothing about the crash
Hoover helped people get loans after all the damage was done, and increased taxes and tariffs which made the situation worse

Who?

Businesses avoided taxes and caused corruption
Capitalism was blamed for not being adaptable and efficient at distributing resources
Europe caused debts in the US when they were not able to pay off their WWI loans
Hoover wasn't a good president - he gave support to financial institutes rather than individuals, was not flexible, and caused widespread unemployment and shanty towns.

Key Points

Change in the lifestyles of blacks, the young, and women
Productivity boom and cautious spending later, after the Great Depression
Problems in agriculture after WWI because foreign demand fell
Weaker unions destabilized employment and lowered wages and working conditions
Hoover was laissez-faire and didn't protect the national economy
The Wall Street Crash began the Great Depression and destabilized normal lives
The President in 1932 after Hoover would have to solve the myriad of problems with no obvious solutions.