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The Great Depression

The Great Depression. Black Thursday . Prices for stocks were over inflated to a companies actual earnings Thursday October 24 worried investors sold stock at any price to get out of the falling stock market Bankers pooled their money to stop the fall of stock prices.

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The Great Depression

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  1. The Great Depression

  2. Black Thursday • Prices for stocks were over inflated to a companies actual earnings • Thursday October 24 worried investors sold stock at any price to get out of the falling stock market • Bankers pooled their money to stop the fall of stock prices. • Richard Whitney made $20 to $30 million of offers in stock in just a few minutes • Markets stabilized for a few days

  3. Black Tuesday • October 29, 1929 there was a run on stocks once again • 16.4 million shares were sold compared to 4-8 million on an average day • By November 13, 1929 overall loses on the stock market amounted to $30 billion • Brokers and banks called in their loans but no one had the cash to pay • Wealthy Americans and businesses failed due to the crash

  4. The Ripple Effect • As profits fell factories laid off workers or cut their wages • Henry Ford closed his factories in Detroit laying off 75,000 • America did not have unemployment insurance for laid off workers • 1932 25% of America was unemployed • Farm prices plummeted after the stock market crash

  5. Banks • Rural banks started to fail due to unpaid agricultural loans • Nervous people who deposited money rushed to get their money out of the bank • There was no FDIC and banks loaned out the money that people had deposited in them • 5,500 banks failed by 1933

  6. Causes for the Great Depression • Over speculation • Buying stock on margin • Stock was overpriced compared to real value • Government Policy • Interest rates cut to spur growth • 1929 fears of over speculation lead the federal reserve to tighten up the money supply so there was less money in circulation once the crash happened • Unstable Economy • Industry produced to many goods • Wealthy families tended to save instead of spend

  7. Society in the Depression • Hoovervilles were areas where the unemployed an homeless built shacks out of anything they could find • Many people went hungry as they could not afford food • Men felt ashamed to be seen during working hours • Most didn’t want handouts • The provider status for men is the reason why soup lines contained few if any women

  8. Discrimination • Married women were fired from jobs • Some women were scorned for taking jobs away from men • African Americans lost jobs to white workers • Relief programs discriminated against African Americans • Black organizations and churches took on the role of relief effort • Lynching's increased in the south

  9. People Helping People • As the Great Depression dragged on many people banded together to help out one another • Soup lines • Church organizations • Feeding hungry strangers in your house • Giving items to charity or to specific people in need • Farmers kept bids low on foreclosed land and gave it back to the former owners

  10. Blame it on Hoover • Hoover originally felt that the economy would get better • He is blamed for the crisis • Hoovervilles • Hoover blankets, newspapers used as blanket • Babe Ruth asked for a salary of $80,000 more than the President’s salary his explanation, “I had a better year than he did.

  11. Hoover Acts • To create jobs government spending increased on public works • Hoover Dam • Hawley-Smoot Tariff: Highest import in U.S. • Backfired as Europe raised their tariffs slowed international trade • Suspended Allies war debt payments • Reconstruction Finance Corporation allowed government credit to be extended to banks so they could extend loans. • Prosperity at the top would transfer across the whole economy. (Trickle down theory)

  12. Hoover’s unpopularity Hoover’s humanitarian aid in WWI made him popular but his reaction to the Great Depression made him look cold and hard hearted Felt that large government funding of private business would create a large bureaucracy and destroy peoples self respect Many felt that he was helping out the bankers instead of the common person

  13. Bonus Army • WWI veteran marched on Washington demanding immediate payments of a pension bonus • Bonus was scheduled to begin in 1945 • House agreed but the Senate said no • General MacArthur drove the Bonus Army out of Washington D.C. by force

  14. FDR and the Election of 1932 • Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Democrat from New York • Believed in experimenting with the governments role in the Depression • He was charasmatic with a large smile while Hoover became withdrawn and glum • Hoover unpopularity being blamed for the Depression assured his defeat • FDR won all but 6 states • FDR also had a New Deal for America • Due to a case of polio FDR is unable to walk without leg braces or stand for long periods of time

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