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The Great Depression essay paper

The Great Depression was synchronous, comprehensive and involved all sectors of world economies. In fact, it was the world economic crisis, but it was called in such a way because of the emotional state in which society was. People really plunged into a state of depressive stupor.

The Great Depression of1929 intheUnited Statesoccurred as a result of overproduction and a lack of money for the purchase of most goods. Since the money was connected to gold, and the number of the metal was limited, there was a shortage of money, and then the lack of effective demand for goods and services. Then there was a sharp drop in prices (deflation) for goods, bankruptcy of enterprises, unemployment, fencing duties on imported goods, falling consumer demand and a sharp drop in living standards.

The beginning of the Great Depression in theU.S.was October 29, 1929, the so-called “Black Tuesday”. The stock market collapsed, the day shares fell by 10 billion dollars, which meant the disappearance of credit money in the amount of 10 billion dollars. Because of the falling stock market, 20-25 million people in theU.S.had losses (Gunderson 2004).

There is another point of view about the causes of the Great American Depression. Great Depression was preceded by rapid growth of theU.S.economy. Thus, from 1917 to 1927 theU.S.national income has increased almost 3 times. The Conveyor production was used widely, stock market was developing rapidly, the number of speculative transactions was increasing, and the real estate was becoming expensive. The increase in production of goods demanded increasing money supply, and the dollar was pegged to gold (Cravens 2009).

Before the Great Depression, theU.S.gold reserves were not increasing as rapidly as the economy expanded. This fact led to the emergence of hidden inflation as the government printed new money for the rapid growth of the economy. Thus, the dollar was undermined security in gold, the budget deficit grew, and the FED was lowering the discount rate.

There was a situation when the productivity growth in industry has declined, and the number of pseudo money (bills, receipts, etc.), on the contrary increased. This imbalance in the economy led to the “Black Tuesday” of 1929.

The conditions of living of people were terrible. People didn’t have enough money for living, because they didn’t have jobs. It is nearly impossible to learn the truth about the human losses during the Great Depression, but it makes no sense to deny that such a serious crisis led to a rise in mortality. After the peak of the crisis, more than 17 million people were unemployed and all who had deposits inU.S.banks lost money, the social insurance system at that time did not exist. According to statistics, the level of suicide has increased over the years from 14 to 17 cases per 100 000 people. Several times the authorities ofNew Yorkeven arranged to extreme measures, and handed out free soup on the street.

Unemployment during the Great Depression was hard, and this led to the loss of millions of jobs in the industrialized world. Life during the Great Depression was difficult for financial investors, business firms and industries that were drowned in debt and suffered monumental losses of trade. Bankruptcy of banks has become the norm; many banks were closed due to the inability to earn money.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment of the Great Depression, the level, without alternative sources of employment and strong deflation was very variable. The unemployment of the Great Depression varied between 3.3% and 24.9%!

After the official end of World War One in 1919, the federal government was able to take better control of the U.S. economy and the unemployment rate remained stable at 3.3% for about 7 years from 1923 to 1929 (Uys 2003).

The Government of Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression did not have options out of the crisis and was criticized for failing to stop the economic crisis. The unemployment in the last years of the Great Depression, in 1931, 1932 and 1933 was 15.9%, 23.6% and 24.9%! The peak of the level of unemployment of the Great Depression in 1933, when it reached 24.9%, is one of the highest ever inU.S.history.

The unemployment of the Great Depression began to decline after 1933. These were the years when President Hoover was replaced by a dynamic, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition, in the next years, the unemployment of the Great Depression was declining, and reached 14.6% in 1940. It was a year after the World War Second, which was indirectly useful for theU.S.economy because theU.S.started production of weapons and ammunition. The unemployment rate fell sharply, due to the war front in 1942; it decreased to 4.7%.

During the Great Depression the life of people was difficult, because enterprises went bankrupt, of enterprises, unemployment grew, and production declined. Number of unemployed in theU.S.since 1929 to 1933 increased from 1.6 million to 12.8 million people, unemployment was 25% (Robbins 2009).

Unhappy people took the so-called hunger marches and the distrust to the economic system grew quickly.

 

Year	Unemployment rate
1923	3.3  %
1930	8.9  %
1931	15.9  %
1932	23.6  %
1933	24.9  %
1934	21.7  %
1935	20.1  %
1936	17.0  %
1937	14.3  %
1938	19.0  %
1939	17.2  %
1940	14.6  %
1941	9.9  %
1942	4.7 %

(Robbins 2009).

 

Thus, the collapse of the American Stock Exchange has caused mass layoffs. According to the American Federation of Labor, in1933 intheU.S., there were 12,830 thousand totally unemployed (Clausen 1995).

 

 

A lot of unemployed workers queued up and competed for jobs in the American Bureau of Unemployment.

 

 

 

 

Those who were not able to pay for shelter built a makeshift “home” of the old boards and boxes. This “palace” was built inNew York.

 

 

 

 

 

Some, however, were content with spending the night in public organizations, such as the Beacon Light Mission. This organization of Evangelical orientation was originally created to help seafarers who could eat there, bathe and relax in specially equipped dormitories ofMission.

Unemployed and homeless citizens were forced to appeal to the public and private organizations and foundations, because until 1932 there were no government social programs to help impoverished people.

People were looking for different ways to raise a little their wealth. They were ready for any jobs.

Not only industry suffered from the crisis, but agriculture also. There escalated the crisis of overproduction. Most of the farmers were on the verge of ruin because of falling prices for agricultural products in 3 times. Since the majority of African-Americans were engaged in agriculture, they were the first to feel the effects of the Great Depression.

In the south of the country landowners started to expel Cropper sharecroppers from their land, who were working the land on lease basis. There were even cases of lynching of sharecroppers.

It should also be mentioned that the president in 1929-1933, was Herbert Clark Hoover.