The Cause And Effects Of The Great Depression

A rise in crime, unemployed individuals had to look toward petty theft to put food on the table, suicide rates increased, malnutrition, prostitution, no adequate Health care, Alcoholism increased with Americans in search of ways to escape the crisis, prohibition and much more unfortunate situation unfolded during the time of The Great Depression. This troubling time lasted from 1929-1939. The Great Depression was a time of worldwide economic depression, the most disastrous of all economic crisis in the history of the United States. The Nation was falling apart, and something needed to be done about the crisis facing the country. The American people needed a change in the situation. After winning the election and defeating Hoover, President

Although a shared belief by many economists that the Great Depression was triggered by the 1929 crash of the stock market. An Overview by David C. Wheelock explain that “The 1929 stock market crash often comes to mind first when people think about the Great Depression. The crash destroyed considerable wealth. Perhaps even more important, the crash sparked doubts about the health of the economy, which led consumers and firms to pull back on their spending, especially on big-ticket items like cars and appliances.” Wheelock went on to argued that “Some economists point a finger at protectionist trade policies and the collapse of international trade. The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 dramatically increased the cost of imported goods and led to retaliatory actions by the United States’ major trading partners. The Great Depression was a worldwide phenomenon, and the collapse of international trade was even greater than the collapse of world output of goods and services. Still, like the stock market crash, protectionist trade policies alone did not cause the Great

Some argued that start of World War II did indeed mark the end of the Great Depression. Because, throughout the war more than 12 million Americans were sent into the military. The jobs provided by the military and other defense related jobs helped cover the unemployment rate. The massive spending during the time of war by the government, believe to have ended the Great Depression by most historian. According to author Peter Ferrara, the theory that The Great Depression ended when War World II started, is false, but rather, the Great Depression ended by the end of the war. Ferrara went on to explain that “A common fallacy is that the Great Depression was ended by the explosive spending of World War II. But World War II institutionalized the sharp decline in the standard of living caused by the Depression. The Depression was actually ended, and prosperity restored, by the sharp reductions in spending, taxes and regulation at the end of World War II, exactly contrary to the analysis of Keynesian so-called