pick up a sheet from the table in the back of the room. answer the questions on the half sheet of...
TRANSCRIPT
Pick up a sheet from the table in the back of the room.
Answer the questions on the half sheet of paper, indicating whether you agree or disagree with each statement.
Falcon Blaster
Hoover to Roosevelt
Great Depression
Should government provide a safety net for people when the economy fails them, and they cannot survive?
What if there was no safety net for people at all?...
Food Stamps
Social Securit
y
What if there was no safety net for people at all?...
When the Stock Market crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression set in…many people had nobody to rely on but themselves. The government did not have any of the programs it has today (Food Stamps, Social Security, Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid). You only had yourself to look after you and your family.
1. Easy Credit/Rising Personal debt2. Speculation/Buying on Margin3. Overproduction4. Bank Runs
Causes of the Great Depression
They mention some causes we don’t, there were MANY…we’re hitting the main ones
Causes of the Depression Video
Easy Credit/Rising personal debt
People got easy credit to buy a lot of stuff (cars, appliances). When the market goes bad, they can’t repay their debts
People took big gambles on Wall Street hoping to get rich quick
People made investments on borrowed money (buying on margin)
Speculation/Buying on Margin
OverproductionAs supply goes up,
demand goes down. This means prices fall.
This happened to farmers with their crops, it happened to the auto industry and industries that depended on it (steel, rubber, glass, etc.)
Supply Demand/Price
Bank RunsBanks depend on people
putting their money into them…they use that money to loan out and make money
When the market started to fall, people panicked and withdrew their money…banks go broke.
By 1933 – 11,000 of the 25,000 banks nationwide had collapsed
Clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life”
Bank Run
Great Depression stats25% unemployment
(today we’re at around 9%)
The US lost a total of $30 billion the week of the stock market crash
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Herbert Hoover did very little…
Hoover’s Response
Reconstruction Finance CorporationGave money to big
businesses, railroads, insurance companies
Purpose: prosperity at the top would “trickle down” to the rest of the population
Puts a tariff in place Taxes imported
goods (stuff from foreign countries) so that foreign goods are more expensive. Encourages people to buy American products.
Hoover’s responseHawley Smoot Tariff
Act
Reconstruction Finance and Hawley Smoot Tariff basically do nothing for
people…
“Trickle-downTheory” reallydoesn’t work…
People blame Hoover for their problems…
Election of 1932…FDR promises a “New Deal”
Says he will support people directly through relief, recovery and reform