Sign In | Sign Up | Help | Invite    
Advanced Search Ask A Question Community Recent Changes
My:             Contributions   
Contributors
{for ul in pageInfo.page}
${ul.nickName}
{var al = toBreakWord(ul.adUrl,18)} {if ul.adSentence !=''}${ul.adSentence}
{/if} {if ul.adUrl !=''}${al}
{/if}
 
{/for}
Earn Free Advertising   +   Earn Money By Writing What You Know at WISTEME.COM
Question Discussion History

Edit
    Question ID:   6710         Current Version: 1
Question: Can anyone give me a brief history of the Great Depression?
Category: Business & Finance > Economics
Keywords: New Deal, history, 1929, Great Depression, Delano, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Type: other
Rating:(0 ratings)    Views: 574    Discussions: 0   In Watch Lists: 1  

 
    Answer:

In October 1929 the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common stock. Even after the stock market collapse, however, politicians and industry leaders continued to issue optimistic predictions for the nation's economy. But the Depression deepened, confidence evaporated and many lost their life savings. By 1933 the value of stock on the New York Stock Exchange was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929. Business houses closed their doors, factories shut down and banks failed. Farm income fell some 50 percent. By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans was unemployed.

In a country with abundant resources, the largest force of skilled labor, and the most productive industry in the world, many found it hard to understand why the depression had occurred and why it could not be resolved. Moreover, it was difficult for many to understand why people should go hungry in a country possessing huge food surpluses. Blaming Wall Street speculators, bankers, and the Hoover administration, the rumblings of discontent grew mightily in the early 1930s. By 1932, hunger marches and small riots were common throughout the nation.

The core of the problem was the immense disparity between the country's productive capacity and the ability of people to consume. Great innovations in productive techniques during and after the war raised the output of industry beyond the purchasing capacity of U.S. farmers and wage earners. The savings of the wealthy and middle class, increasing far beyond the possibilities of sound investment, had been drawn into frantic speculation in stocks or real estate. The stock market collapse, therefore, had been merely the first of several detonations in which a flimsy structure of speculation had been leveled to the ground.

The presidential campaign of 1932 was chiefly a debate over the causes and possible remedies of the Great Depression. The Republican Herbert Hoover planned to depend largely on natural processes of recovery, while the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was prepared to use the federal government's authority for bold experimental remedies. Roosevelt was elected president on the platform of a "New Deal" for the American people.

In a certain sense, it is fair to say that the New Deal merely introduced types of social and economic reform familiar to many Europeans for more than a generation. What was truly novel about the New Deal, however, was the speed with which it accomplished what previously had taken generations. Within three months, Roosevelt enacted a number of laws to help the economy recover. New jobs were created by undertaking the construction of roads, bridges, airports, parks and public buildings. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) passed by Congress in 1933 to provide economic relief to farmers, helped increase farm income. But throughout the 1930s, and in particularly from 1935 to 1938, a severe drought hit the Great Plains states and violent wind and dust storms ravaged the plains in what became known as the "Dust Bowl."

The New Deal sponsored a remarkable series of legislative initiatives and achieved significant increases in production and prices -- but it did not bring an end to the Depression. In the face of pressures from left and right, President Roosevelt backed a new set of economic and social measures (Second New Deal), among them measures to fight poverty, to counter unemployment with work and to provide a social safety net. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the principal relief agency of the so-called second New Deal, was an attempt to provide work rather than welfare. Buildings, roads, airports and schools were constructed. Actors, painters, musicians and writers were employed through the Federal Theater Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Writers Project. But the New Deal's cornerstone was the Social Security Act of 1935. It created a system of insurance for the aged, unemployed and disabled based on employer and employee contributions. In 1936, Roosevelt won an even more decisive victory than in 1932.

The end to the Great Depression came about in 1941 with America's entry into World War II.

Read more questions from WISTEME through
     Add to MSN Add to My AOL
 Rate this Question
   Add to Groups   Add to Watch Lists   Share Question
                          
 
    More Readings :
[QID:2823]    Which U.S. President vetoed the most bills?  
[QID:5740]    What is the History of the Egg?  
[QID:4857]    Do you know the history of calendar's development?   - No answer
[QID:4691]    Can you tell me something about the history of paper making?  
[QID:4570]    What is the origin of coffee?  
[QID:21]    What is the history of Father's Day?  
[QID:6530]    What is the early history of Arlington National Cemetery?  
[QID:6522]    Can you tell me a brief history of Arizona State?  
[QID:6090]    What is the origin of ice cream?  
[QID:4688]    What is the history of anthropology?   - No answer
     Question ID:  ${question.id}         Current Version:  ${question.version}

{for qh in questionHistory} {if qh.status == 'r'} {else} {/if} {/for}
Version Contributor Date (ET) Voting
${qh.version} ${qh.nickName} ${qh.date} Rejected
${qh.version} ${qh.nickName} ${qh.date} {if qh.status != 'c'} {if qh.status == 'a'} Approved {else} {if qh.rstatus == 'c'} On-going {else} Pending {/if} {/if} {else}   {/if}
Start a New Topic
ID Topics Replies Latest Post (ET)
{if dlist!=null} {for d in dlist} {/for}
${parseInt(d_index)+1} ${d.sentence} ${d.replyNum} ${d.lastestDate}
{else}
No discussion topic.
{/if}
Label Name:
 
Group Name:
 
 
{else}
     You have no group.
{/if}
Advertisements
{if advertisements.length > 0} {else} {/if}
{for ad in advertisements}
${ad.adTitle}
${ad.adSentence}
${ad.adUrl}
{/for}

Home | About Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Browse Questions | RSS Feed

Copyright ©2010 WISTEME LLC. All Rights Reserved.