1 / 9

What was the Great Depression?

What was the Great Depression?. The Causes of the Great Depression. OVERPRODUCTION -Industry and agriculture were expanding and out-producing the purchasing power of consumers. UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

conway
Download Presentation

What was the Great Depression?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. What was the Great Depression?

  2. The Causes of the Great Depression OVERPRODUCTION -Industry and agriculture were expanding and out-producing the purchasing power of consumers. UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH -Concentration of wealth among the very few – many farmers and laborers could not afford goods and they had to purchase them on installment or credit.

  3. The Causes of the Great Depression OVEREXPANSION OF CREDIT Credit was given to people who were unlikely to be able to easily pay their debts. Increased credit caused people to gamble recklessly in the stock market – buyers could purchase stock with as little as 10% down and the rest on credit – people bought more than they could afford and stock prices became overinflated. When stocks lost value, investors lost huge amounts of money – they lost the value of the stock, plus had to pay their debt to creditors, plus interest.

  4. Black TuesdayOctober 29, 1929 -16.5 million shares were traded -stocks lost value: U.S. Steel - $262/share in September -fell to $22/share General Motors - $73/share in September -fell to $8/share -all told, share holders lost $40 billion

  5. Bank Failures Throughout the 1930s over 9,000 banks failed. Bank deposits were uninsured and thus as banks failed people simply lost their savings. Surviving banks, unsure of the economic situation and concerned for their own survival, were not very willing to create new loans. This exacerbated the situation leading to to significantly less spending

  6. The Worldwide Picture Banking systems around the world were interdependent – bank failures in Europe caused bank failures in American and vice versa. The United States had been a major creditor of post-WWI reconstruction in Europe. When American banks began to falter, they recalled these loans, but the European countries could not pay them back.

  7. American Protectionism In an effort to protect American producers from international competition, President Herbert Hoover enacted the controversial Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930, which put a large tax on imported goods. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff hurt more than it helped, essentially putting an end to international trade and further hurting the economy.

  8. What were the effects of the Great Depression on America? -Massive unemployment -Farmers lost their livelihood and abandoned their farms -Factories closed -Migrations: people moved out of the Great Plains region of the country to escape drought, young men “rode the rails” to seek out jobs in other parts of the country -Having lost their jobs, their savings and their homes, people were forced to live in run-down shanty towns – nicknamed “Hoovervilles” after President Hoover, who many thought did not do enough to help the victims of the Depression.

  9. Activity Everyone will be handed a piece of paper, on this paper will be a character for you to play in the following simulation. • Some of you will be bankers at three different banks, the rest of you will be clients at the bank. • Everyone will be given a pre-determined amount of money. • Go to the “teller” and complete the task listed on your card. • Once you have completed your task, return to your seat and, if time allows, write a couple of sentences about your experience.

More Related