The Great Depression1929-1939

Jake Rubin

Intro to Business

Block 2

Causes of the Depression

Poor distribution of wealth Overextended stock and

margin buying caused an unregulated stock market

High tariffs drove domestic prices up

Surplus of agricultural goods lowered prices and put farmers in debt

Consumer debt Weak Banks Money stopped circulating

Effects of the Depression

Widespread hunger and poverty

Unemployment rates were at 25%

Worldwide economic crisis Drastic lifestyle change Farm losses Caused Democrat Franklin

Roosevelt to be elected first in 1932

Employment of FDR’s New Deal

New Deal : Relief

Relief tended to the countries immediate needs

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) paid farmers NOT to grow crops or raise livestock to end the surplus and raise agricultural prices

Emergency Bank Relief Act (EBRA) inspected banks to make sure they were sound enough to reopen following the “bank holiday”. If they were not sound then they were given a loan.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave jobs to painters, musicians, poets, etc, who could not find work

New Deal: Recovery

Recovery plans were to end the Depression

National Recovery Act (NRA) gave some rights to Unions to bargain with businesses by fixing the prices of goods, setting minimum wages, establishing 40 hour work weeks, and set up Labor Board

Public Works Administration (PWA) created new jobs to help rebuild city infrastructure to improve living conditions.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided jobs for young men improving public parks and other conservation projects. This created more jobs while reducing competition for jobs in the city

New Deal: Reform Reform was to prevent another

Depression Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation (FDIC) helped protect banks and investors by insuring accounts and increased confidence in the bank system

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created to regulate the stock market for future investors and insure confidence in the stock market again

Social Security was originally established as a relief program for the elderly, but today it has been adapted to a pension program

Famous Novels of the Depression

During the Dust Bowl period of the Depression, when drought hit the Great Plains, the lifestyle was captured by John Steinbeck in two novels

Grapes of Wrath is a story about a family of sharecroppers driven to California in search of jobs by the Dust Bowl

Of Mice and Men follows two mismatched ranch workers as they find work and money during the Depression

Political Effects

Republican Herbert Hoover came into office in 1928 just before the stock market crash of ’29

This caused Roosevelt to win the 1932 election by a landslide

Roosevelt gained so much favor that he was elected for four terms and served 13 years before he died

The Depression Today

Pieces of the New Deal such as Social Security, the FDIC, and SEC are still helping the United States today

Roosevelt also started the national debt which actually boosted our economy

The debt remains today

Bibliography

www.google.com (images and search engine) http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depres

sion/causes.html www.wikipedia.com http://www.indianchild.com/the_great_depres

sion.htm Mr. Chambers and his wonderful review

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