Summary
        The Great Depression had numerous causes and majority of them were rooted in the 1920's. After World War I many Americans turned to a more individualistic type of life style. Americans started to spend their money frivolously on new inventions such as cars instead of being frugal with their earnings. By Americans buying consumer products at such a high rate economy stayed strong, but there was one problem. The gap between the rich and the poor was widening. Rich people just kept getting richer. Business owners kept getting more money, but the worker's salary remained the same. Bussiness revenue went up to 65 percent, while worker's wages only went up eight percent. The governemnt did not help the situation either when they passed the Revenue Act in 1926. This act states that Anyone making a million dollars or plus gets a one third tax reduction.
          Another problem with Americans was they had a new invention called credit. Americans bought beyond their means and didnt think about how they would pay it off later. Americans were into the whole get rich quick motto and thats why many non wealthy people invested into the stock market. In the 1920's the shares started to increase in price and even cost more than what they were worth. Many people bought the inflated shares because they thought the prices would keep getting higher. When the stock market collapsed, it was a huge blow to the rich and poor alike.

Analysis
         The causes of the Great Depression are extensive and its a product of a series of unfortunate events. The American population is much to blame for the collapse of the economy. It was the people who just kept spending and spending without any thought. They began to pile up so much debt on themselves that the economy feeling the blow was inevitable. People just wanted to get rich, which doesnt really change with any decade, but in the 1920's everyone's need for wealth and consumer products is what sent the country and millions of Americans toppling down.

Citation

Kelly (2012, May 20). The great depression . Retrieved from http://www.brucekelly.com/library/great-depression.html

Reflection Question
How did Americans play a role in causeing the depression?

Summary
         Herbert Hoover was the president at the initiation of the great depression. Hoover believed that if workers had high wages and were able to share their jobs in place of being laid of then the economy would improve because they would be able to buy goods and services to provide wealth to the country. Hoovers ideas of having workers combine jobs and keep up high wages for them were Hoover's pro-labor cause. Hoover was a big cause of the great depression with his labor ideas. hoover consulted with numerous industry leaders to talk to them about increasing or stabilizing workers incomes, or have workers share their jobs in order tot keep the unemployment rate down. Hoovers plan caused the inflation of the wages to constantly grow at a time when deflation struck. The company owners did not have the money to pay the workers increasing wages. Since the companies could not pay the workers, they started to lay off workers and cut their week hours.

Reflection
         Herbert Hoover had the right intentions when he went to the companies. He caused bigger problems than just deflation though. Because of him, companies did not have the money to pay the workers their high fees, so they got laid off any ways. productivity in the country was low, so the companies just didn't have the money to pay the workers anymore. Hoover's pro-labor policies caused about two-thirds drop in America's gross domestic product. Without hoover The Great Depression may never of even happen, t could of just stopped at a recession.

Citation
Sullivan (2009, August 28). Hoover's pro-labor helped cause great depression, ucla economist says . Retrieved from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/pandering-to-labor-caused-great-91447.aspx


Question
Do you think the Hoovers policies made America's economic crises worse?

Summary
       Before the crash of the stock market, unemployment rates already started to heighten. When more people are out of work, it means tehre is a smaller demand for consumer products. As the demand fell, deflation rose. Banks were panicing and the world monetary system crashed which caused panic in many Americans. The Great Depression was a series of unfortunate events. Workers were not being hired because there was no market for the products. There was no market for the products because the workers would not be hired so they didn't have money to spend on the products.

Analysis
       Basically everything that could of went wrong in a juncture of time did and that is what caused the depression. It was basically a circle that kept going round and round. Workers were out of work and couldn't find jobs because nobody was hiring due to the already overproduction of goods. The workers were the ones buying the goods, but they were out of work and couldn't afford good anymore, thus pushing the economy furthur into the brinks of depression.

Citation
       

Bradford DeLong. (1997, February). Slouching towards utopia?: The economic history of the twentieth century. Retrieved from http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Crash14.html

Question

Do you think the Great Depression was inevitable?

Summary The crash of the stock market occurred in a time of fun and laughter. Many people were not prepared to deal with the situation America's economy was facing. There was a lot of exces speculation on Wall Street. Wall Street had become a miniature economy of its own. Men sad that stock prices had reached their high and would remain there. They could not have been anymore wrong because on Wednesday October 23, 1929 stocks started to decrease and the first wave if panic had begun. The very next day brokers began withdrawing margin accounts, which caused stock prices to plummet. In a mere ten hours ten billion dollars worth of invested stocks were wiped clean. Luckily the market rebounded, but not for long. On Tuesday October 29, 1929 the market crashed. Sixteen million shares were traded on the day of the crash. The market lost a tota of fourteen billio dollars. Millionaires had become pennyless in a matter of hours. Analysis Many people were so wrapped up in the exillerating life style of the roaring twenties that they didn't really want to see the trouble America's economy was facing. Majority of the people simply ignored the warning signs. Months before the crash unemployment rates started to increase. Also, automobile prices began decreasing along with department store revenue. Whenever the market took a hit there was always salvation, but on October 29, 1929 nobody could save the stock market from collapsing. Many people said that the economy would not complete, recover until a decade and a half post crash. Citation Markets alliance (Producer) (2009). The great depression 1929-documentary [Web]. Retrieved from http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nyAZGqFtVjw Question Do you think the stock market crash could of bee prevented if it occurred in a different time period?

Summary
  Farmers in the early 1900's did not properly manage their farmlands. In 1930 the Dust Bowl began and lasted until 1936. The Dust Bowl was a result of years of poorly managed crop productions in the Midwestern United States. When the stock market crashed, it is known as Black Thursday. The Dust Bowl also had a date like that. One day the wind speeds got up to 60 mph on April 14, 1935, and that was when the Dust Bowl was truly called the Dust Bowl. April 14, 1935 is know as Black Sunday. The Dust Bowl coincided with one of the worst economic crisis in American history, which made it that much worse. Over a million acres of land were harmed during the 1930's. Numerous farmers lost their land and jobs, so they migrated towards the city in hopes of finding employment. Urban life was not doing any better than rural and millions were unemployed in the cities. The migration of farmers towards the cities just increased unemployment rates in the cities and created  bigger problems.

Analysis
   The crash of the stock market definitely started the depression, but many factors went into the worsening of the situation. Millions of people in cities were facing unemployment already, so when the Dust Bowl occured millions of farmers then lost their jobs. At that point, America was looking at high unemployment rates in cities, lack of productive land, mass migration of farmers seeking work, and a failing economy.

Citation
Croft communications,Inc. (2012). The dust bowl andi its role in the great depression. Retrieved from http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/dust-bowl.html


Question
Do you think the Dust Bowl furthered America into the Great Depression?

Summary In 1930 the senate passed a law called Smoot-Hawley Act. This act led to the increase of taxes on over 20,000 imported goods. Some say that act was a major cause of the depression. Another cause was the bank failures prior to the crash of the stock market in 1929. During the 1930's banks started to sell their assets in a panic. By late 1930 608 banks had failed. One of those failing banks was the Bank of the United States. That failure of fhat bank in particular had detrimental effects os the economy because when I failed the bank lost 1/3 of all deposits. By January 1932 1,860 bankes had failed. Analysis Most people believe the crash of the stock market was the sole cause of the Great Depression. In fact, it may not have been the crash that truly sunk America into the depression. Another thought was the copious amount of bank failures. The 1930's served as a devastating time for Americans duel all the bank failures. By 1932 1,860 banks had failed leaving people penniless. Citation Ferguson. (2008, October 2). The end of prosperity?. Time Magazine , Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1846792, Question Do you think the bank failures played a big role in the Great Depression?

The Dust Bowl

Sumary
       The Dust Bowl was characterized by wind erosion, severee drought, and economic crisis on the Central and Southern Great Plain. The Dust Bowl occured in the 1930's. It started in 1933 and prevailed until 1940. The farmers were not directly affected by the stock market crash in 1929, but their immunity could only last so long. During the 1920's farmers went into a recession. Farmers were growing too many crops that the population did not demand. Prices of the crops just kept plummeteing and in 1930 the prices fell into oblivion. Since the price of crops fell so low and sand blew over the cropland, farmers were unable to produce enough money to support themselves. Many farmer's land was foreclosed. In 1935 46.6 million acres of crops were gone. A problem was arising for small bussiness men as well, becasue the prices of fertilizer, tractors, and automobiles lowered in the 1930's.

Analysis
      The crash of the stock market affected millions of people living in urban areas. Many people don't even realize farmers were going through a depression of their own. The rercession in the 1920's and the overproduction of crops was just the first part of the problems rural life faced. The Dust Bowl wiped out most of the fertile land, which caused farmers to be unable to produce any more crops. The Dust Bowl did not just affect farmers, but small merchnats as well. Prices for farm equiptment lowered in the 1930's, causeing merchants to lose money.

Citation
       Cunfer, Geoff. "The Dust Bowl". EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. August 18, 2004. http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Cunfer.DustBowl

Question
         Do you think the Dust Bowl and the economic strife for farmers hada big contribution to America's Great Depression as a whole?