Imperialism Exposed in Roger & Me

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"Black Thursday." The name itself sends shivers down your spine. October 24, 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed signaling the end of the Roaring Twenties and the start of the Great Depression. A depression can be defined as, "a prolonged deep recession." A recession is, "a period during which aggregate output declines." (Case 118) This was certainly quite a change, as in the twenties the economy seemed to be booming around the world. There was rapid increase in industrialization, and drastic improvements in technology. Wages, consumer spending, and stock prices were high and seemed to keep rising. In fact, as people kept buying on margin, (speculating that the upward trend would continue) billions of dollars were invested which did at first keep pushing the stock prices ever higher. People poured their life savings into the market, mortgaged their homes, etc… during this crazed time period. However, it soon happened that this buying craze was followed by an even wilder selling spree. On that fateful day in October prices dropped just about as low as they could get as investors tried selling their holdings. In fact, by the end of the day the New York Stock Exchange had lost $4 billion, taking the exchange clerks working straight until 5 AM the next day to clear all of the transactions that had taken place the previous day. Several days after this, panic occurred as people began to realize just what had happened. Thousands of people were now financially ruined. Many banks that had participated in speculative investments failed as well, and this caused many "run on banks." Each and every player contributed to the downward spiral that was sucking the world into the Great Depression. (Underwood)

However, there is more to the cause of depressions and recessions than just the role of the financial sector and speculative investments. Yet, why do I mention the ideas of a booming economy suddenly becoming a state of despair and perhaps even turning into a recession or depression? In watching the film Roger & Me I feel like Flint, Michigan experienced these events because of the decisions of General Motors. Flint was at first a booming economy, but it soon became one filled with much poverty.

I believe that Roger & Me deals, at least in part, with the issue of

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