Economic Reform essays

Economic Reform essays The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history. It ranked as the worst and longest period of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade. Many factors led to the onset and continuation of the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of uneven distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place later during the same decade. Money was distributed intermittently between the rich and the middle-class, between industry and agriculture within the United States, and between the U.S. and Europe. This imbalance of wealth created an unstable economy. Other factors included overproduction and Americans not receiving wages to purchase those goods, foreign tariffs, and the federal reserves tight money polices. Not only was the United states being affected by the economy, the people were as well. The excessive speculation in the late 1920's kept the stock market artificially high, but eventually lead to large market crashes. Black Thursday became known to Americans on October 24th of 1929. Thousands of stockholders lost large sums of money. Many of these stockholders were even wiped out. Banks, factories, and stores closed and left millions of Americans jobless and penniless. During this period, Americans lost their money from banks shutting down because their money was not ensured. As the losses added up, suicide, violence, and divorce rates sky rocketed. During the Great Depression, radio brought Americans together in a mental aspect. Every Saturday night families would gather around to listen to President Roosevelts fire side chats. Since television was not invented yet, Roosevelt would give speeches over the radio to keep Americans updated on what was going on in Ameri ...