1. What were the causes of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression?
Black Tuesday- day when the stock market crashed
brokers- people who banks got loans from, they went broke when the people who they loaned to couldn't pay it back
buying on margin- people buy 10% of a stock (10-100$ stock, 100-1000$,1000-10000$)
companies profits went down when supply exceeded demand (everyone had what they needed, stopped buying)
Stocks were grossly inflated (didn't have real values)
Federal Reserve failed to back up banks
Government didn't have rules regulating the stock market
Causes of Great Depression- Spiral Era: Stock market crash, bank failure, business failure, loss of jobs
Trade- trade decreased, high Tariffs were made, Dust Bowl made it hard to produce goods in the US, global pulling; where other countries made high tariffs on US goods, they too fell into depression
2. What impact did the stock market crash and Great Depression have on the lives of people in the United States?
People lost possessions to banks, panicked, committed suicide, committed more crimes
People lost faith in the stock market
vicious cycle- companies lost money, laid people off, they couldn't buy products, companies lost more money, laid more people off, the cycle continues
Unemployment rose to 25%
mass migration- people tried to move (country to city) to get jobs and less debt
education was out of reach for most people
Divorce rates dropped; it costs to divorce, teen boys left families to find jobs
government got bigger and stronger
3. What did the United States government do to help alleviate the problems the Great Depression brought to our country?
President Hoover
-born 1874 West Branch, IA
-Stanford University
-Was a Boy Scout, donated to the Boy Scouts all his life
-Became a mining engineer, went around the world mining
-head of National Food Administration during WWI
-Supporter of progressives
-became president in 1929, stock market crash happened shortly after
-rugged individualism; he vetoed acts that would help the poor directly
-Hawley Smoot Tariff made to get people to buy American-made goods
-Reconstruction Finance Cooperation, trickle down theory
-Congress accepted about 70% of Hoover's ideas
Roosevelt-New Deal(Goals/1st and 2nd)
How did the New Deal impact the following: unemployed, young people, factory workers/labor unions, farmers, elderly/poor, homeowners, artists/musicians, women/African-American/Native Americans, banks, stock market, energy
unemployed- 25% unemployment, 1933 was the worst year, New Deal made Public Works Administration; puts lots of money into economy to create jobs; Civil Works Administration did the same as PWA with more concern on higher wages, didn't last long; Works Progress Administration also created jobs with construction, airports, highways, etc.
Young People- homeless (20%) and without clothing, family couldn't provide for them, about 40% of kids couldn't go to school; Civilian Conservation Corps, created jobs for younger men; National Youth Administration, part of the WPA, served 327,000 high school and college youth, included women
Women- worked hard during the depression, "No housewife lost her job in the depression"
Poor- distribution of income, rich got richer, poor got poorer; became transients (hobos); CWA, PWA, and WPA helped the poor get jobs, money and homes; the SSA (social security admin) placed taxes on income for when you retire or die
Energy- Tennessee Valley Admin, set up jobs by building dams; Rural Electrification Agency, made sure rural areas got electricity (helped businesses)
Labor Unions- New Deal helped by passing the NIRA, Wagner Act, and FLSA; NIRA (national industrial recovery act) made it so the president could regulate the economy, made it legal to have Labor Unions; Wagner Act helped with collective bargining, where they would meet with employers to negotiate wages and hours, FLSA did the same
Homeowners- United States Housing Authority was made to lend money to states or communities for low-cost construction; originally 50% down payment, paid over 5-10 years; stretched to 15-30 years
African-Americans- treated worse than poor whites, African Americans jobs were given to poor whites; National Recovery Act made it so African Americans were pushed out of the economy so whites could get better; African Americans were rarely given loans; Few New Deal Acts were made that helped the African Americans
Banks & Stock Market- 1920's, stock market was highly invested in, late 1920's, stock market bobbed up and down, 1929, stock market crashed; banks closed because of the crash; Glass Steagall Act made to create a separation between commercial banks; Security and Exchange Commission made to regulate the commerce in stocks, made sure companies were truthful in their profits; Banking holiday declared to end bank runs, Roosevelt encouraged people to trust in the banks and not to fear (only thing to fear is fear itself); Federal reserve made to stop bank runs, failed to back up banks during the stock market crash
4. What long lasting impact did the Great Depression have on Shelby County, Iowa, the US and world?
Shelby County- About 30 towns were abandoned during the depression, farms, businesses, and banks closed
Iowa- WPA projects, Alden Bridge and Eagle Point Park were made by the WPA; New Deal helped many towns and cities in Iowa with job creation and economic recovery
United States- People changed their ways, money wasn't spent without care; unemployment was hard to get out of, hard to find jobs; government got bigger, more involved in economy, more spending, SEC made to enforce the security of the stock market, FDIC made to help banks
World- Germany, high unemployment, U.S. provided funds to them, Weimar government was abandoned (Adolf Hitler came to power); Japan, no natural resources, essential trade was being blocked, Japanese economy collapsed, famine and bad economy resulted in many people starving, Japanese invaded China to get resources; Great Britian, farming was hit hard by depression, value of the pound went down, smaller amount of manufacturing, recovered quickly; Russia, Stalin created 5 year plan to help reform Russia, communist government prevented most of the depression from hitting Russia, only big effect of the depression was famine
Comments