NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The Great Depression took place from 1930 to 1939. During this time the prices of stock fell 40 %. 9, 000 banks went out of business and 9 million savings accounts were wiped out. 86, 000 businesses failed, and wages were decreased by an average of 60 %. The unemployment rate went from 9 % all the way to 25 %, about 15 million jobless Economic Indicators of the Great Depression Indicator 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 (in millions 12. 1 12. 8 production workers (constant $) $ 27. 00 $ 28. 55 $ 25. 84 $ 22. 62 $ 17. 05 $ 17. 71 financial difficulties 499 659 1, 352 2, 294 1, 456 4, 004 (in billions of $'s (in billions of $'s The end of World War 1 - Treaty of Versailles. The treaty demands payments and relations of war debts from the defeated countries. Some U.
S. Banks fail because of bad investments and low prices for agricultural The stock market fails in October, which sends millions of investors into bankruptcy. Hawley-Smooth Tariff Act raises the import duties on a wide variety of raw materials Hostilities between China and Japan begin resulting in increased defense spending, and preperation's for war to efficiently insulate Japan from an economic depression. Hoover creates the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend money to businesses Franklin Delete Roosevelt (FDR) is elected president. Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany and he puts into effect his 4 year plan of economic recovery. FDR declares a federal bank holiday, to determine which banks are solvent enough to re-open.
FDR broadcasts the first fireside chat with America. The 100 days congressional session approves 15 major acts, this initiates the new deal. The World Economic Conference is held in London. They fail to agree on international policies to cooperate combat in the worldwide depression.
Wall Street trading is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Act. The new deal policies are mandated by the democratic majorities in Congress. Through the National Labor Relations Act workers get the right to organize and the Social Security Act provides for old-age pensions nad unemployment insurances. Germany's second 4 year plan focuses on defense and the build up of arms FDR begins his second term. The recession begins. 1937 - 1938 unemployment raises to 20 %. Congress defeats Supreme Court Reform Bill- emphasizing that the constitution must stay the principle of government.
Germany invades Czechoslovakia, and resulting in defense spending buildup in in Great Britain, France and the United States. This ends the Great Depression of the Most people had to cut back on luxuries, and make old things last longer. The telephone was the first thing to go. People stopped buying furniture, household appliances, jewelry, candy, etc.
Yet on the other hand, gasoline, radios, electric refrigerators, and cigarette sales kept going strong. Movies were one of the strongest sales. It was as if people looked to Hollywood as an escape from their problems. Families planted gardens on vacant lots. Fashion styles became simpler. The depression made people turn their backs on their families.
Many people lost their homes. Divorce rates went down. Some Americans had it worse than others. People who lost their jobs couldn't afford proper medical care or food. One out of every five kids were malnourished. In 1933, starvation claimed 29 people in New York.
People used substitute cheap starched, like great for milk. People fought for food in the streets. There were food shelters to help people. The ironic thing about the depression is that while thousands of people were starving in the city, the farmers had more food than they could sell. The consumers didn't have enough money to buy a lot of food.
As consumer demand shrunk, prices for farmer's products fell. Sometimes farmers could not even afford to pay the freight to send their livestock to market. This left the farmers with no choice but to shoot and bury their livestock and to let their crops rot in the files. Unable to sell their crops, farmers couldn't afford to pay their mortgages.
Many farmers had their farms repossessed by the bank. In 1930 parts of the South suffered a severe drought, and farmers there, couldn't even afford to feed their families. During the depression, drought and dust storms placed the land. Some of the dust storms were so severe they buried houses, forcing thousands of farm families to leave the Dust Bowl, as it was called. Eventually the Federal government was able to reclaim the land by planting grass and trees, and by using scientific agricultural methods. web In the 1920 's, things were really rocking in the US and around the world.
The rapid increase in industrialization was fueling growth in the economy, and technology improvements had economists believing that the uprise would continue. During this 'boom' period, wages of workers increased along with consumer spending. This meant, higher wage caused consumers People became more prosperous, and had more and more money to spare. Shares were being bought in great numbers and this rose the value of the share. When the value of a share rose, it tempted others to invest in it. Of course, the more you invest, the more you earn.
Billions of dollars were invested in the stock market as people began speculating on the rising stock prices The enormous amount of unsecured consumer debt created by this speculation left the stock market essentially off-balance. Many investors, caught up in the race to make a killing, invested their life savings, mortgaged their homes, and cashed in safer investments such as treasury bonds Easy credit was available. Although federal banks were prohibited from lending money to people for buying stock market shares, private banks could and did so. The prices continued to soar and some fearful economic analysts began to warn of an impending correction. However, that thought was put away with and ignored by the leading pundits.
Many banks, eager to increase their profits, began speculating dangerously with their investments as well. Finally, in October 1929, the buying craze began to dwindle, and was followed by an even wilder selling People were jubilant like the cartoon character beside when they earned some money from the rising shares, but greed took over them and they bought even more. On Thursday, October 24, 1929, known also as Black Thursday, the bottom began to fall out. Prices dropped precipitously. People, africa they would lose more if they did not act as soon as possible, rushed off to sell off their shares. This actually made things worse.
The value of the respective shares continued to fall until they became worthless. With the shares worthless, people could not pay back their loans. Thousands of investors -- many of them ordinary working people, not serious "players" -- were financially ruined. What could the banks do? They could only declare the people who loaned money from them as bankrupt, without getting any single cent back. Many banks were therefore ruined.
The New York Stock Exchange, crowded with frantic people rushing to sell their shares which By the following Monday, the realization of what had happened began to sink in, and a full-blown panic ensued. By the end of the year, stock values had dropped by fifteen billion dollars. The Stock Market has fallen, from what people thought a "strike-it-rich-in-a-minute" place to a "strike-it-bankrupt" hell. Do you think that there would be a Wall Street Crash if people had not rushed off to sell their shares immediately when the values dropped? THAT WAS NOT THE END. IT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING When the Wall Street fell, it was clear there was imminent danger to other countries.
United States bankers withdrew funds abroad, pulling out the props from German and Eastern Europe prosperity. This action was done without any considerate thought for the world, but only to save Frantic people rushing off to the New York Stock Exchange to sell off their shares, even if they made a loss. They did so because they did not want any further and greater loss. This resulted in the following "disasters." In May 1931 the Vienna Credit anstalt (the leading bank in the Danube basin, became insolvent.
It was a collapse that shook the financial centres In the following July, the leading top 4 banks in Germany to declare themselves bankrupt. Also, the Berlin Stock Exchange closed down for 2 months. The Berlin Stock Exchange was very much like Wallstreet, just that it was situated in Berlin, Germany. Its closing down meant that share holders, who put down life savings and any other source of money thet could get like those in US, suffered the similar fate of the "unserious" players in Wallstreet.
At the outset of this crisis, British investors took losses in US and Central Europe. Later, markets for British exports disappeared. In this memorable year of 1931, the British government suffered a deficit of 1 million pounds per week. A deficit is the difference between the amount of something that you have and the higher amount that you need. In this case, it was A previous manager selling apple at 5 cents each This was because Britons were drawing unemployment insurance. Foreigners lacked confidence in the pound, and so withdrew their investments in London and exchanged sterling for gold or francs or dollars.
This caused the Bank of England to lose gold through withdrawals at a rate of The above is a simple animation that illustrates the people affected by the Wallstreet Crash... The man represents the many share holders. The ball is the amount of money they have. They tried to earn more money by buying more shares dangerously.
However, due to the various reasons, they failed and the amount of money they have fell, many to even negative amounts. Bibliography: none
Free research essays on topics related to: afford to pay, dust storms, defense spending, amount of money, york stock exchange
Research essay sample on York Stock Exchange Afford To Pay
