Ballyhoo, Prosperity and the Crash

The massive Depression which came after the Crash of 1929 traded the Statesn attitudes from optimism, something that Americans had because of the increasing flow of consumer bullys and because of this unsanded better way of liveliness to, despair. This economic despair was the lowest and bleakest clock time in American report. Factories closed, machines fell silent, and millions upon millions of people walked the streets, looking for jobs that did non exist (750). Lasting for ten years it took over every aspect of American life.Along with this came a change in government that would give way to a Democratic majority and removed Republican tick off since the 1890s. Immigrants who had came to America before WWI took a political stance that lasted by this difficult time on through to the next generation that resulted in the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of the first things his office did was developing The New Deal. This would piss programs of relief, recuperation, a nd reform that greatly increase the role of government in American life (750) in an lying-in to ease suffering and begin the cartroad for economic recovery.In order to understand what happened economically during this time a look at business and government attitudes during the 20s should be examined. During the 20s Republicans use their return to power after WWI to halt further reform legislation and to establish a accessible relationship between government and business (742). This relationship led to false beliefs in economic emersion and stability. The automobile and appliance industries during this time caused a saturation of the foodstuff. This slowed sales steadily and in 1927 there was a mild recession.The owners of these industries could oblige raised wages or lowered prices in an effort to stimulate purchasing power and hold onto the consumer-goods revolution (750) simply ignored the signs. The government could have helped by auction blockping installment- procurein g and backwardness bank loans that could have made the depression not last as long, but didnt. The only macrocosm that saw a possible problem and tried to do something about it was The rural areaal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board saw problems and tried to stimulate the economy by lowering the discount rate, and charging banks slight for loans.This tautological credit that was given was thought to be used for re-investment but instead went into the assembly line market that was touching off a new wave of speculation that obscured the growing economic slowdown and ensured a far greater crash to come (751). Everyone jumped on the bandwagon as the 1920s became better known as the get-rich-quick era. Millions of individuals from all the way at the top to all the way at the bottom played the stocks. Anyone with extra cash was investing heavily in the stock markets. They were betting that the vast rise in shelter prices would make them huge profits.Savings were used to bet on the speculative stocks. Corporations used their large cash reserves to supply cash to brokers who in turn loaned it to investors on the margin. (751). By 1929 the whole country was in hunch forward with stock speculation. Offices open in huge numbers in city after city crosswise America and people flocked to them in hopes of riches. This national obsession with the bull market gave a false persuasion that the economy was healthy and this caused a blind eye towards the mistakes that were happening that would lead to disaster.It was in October of 1929 that put the stop to this obsession of speculation stock buying. Overnight corporations and financial institutions no longer would provide capital for stock market purchases and this also made investors and bankers stop giving consumer credit. This stopped consumer buying power and leading to a sharp slope downward of sales of consumer goods economic disaster that continued for 4 years. 1932 showed a time that unemployment had sw elled to 25 portion of the work force.Steel production was down to 12 percent of capacity and the bulky assembly lines in Detroit produced only a trickle of cars each day. (751) There were many contributing factors toward the path of the Great Depression, but the single most important was that factories produced more goods than they were consuming. Some others were unstable economic conditions in Europe, the agricultural decline since 1919, corporate mismanagement and of course over speculation. Americans didnt have the money to buy anymore.Even though most Americans didnt have a car or a refrigerator the money just wasnt there anymore. Too much money had gone into profits, dividends and industrial expansion. Not comely went into the hands of the workers who would become the consumer. Wages vs. factory productivity did not equal out. Factory productivity had increased 43 percent during the decade, but the wages of industrial workers had only gone up 11 percent (752). If all the money that was used for speculation had gone to increase wages then consumer purchasing would have gone up.This would have created a balance in production and consumption. It was only after a good look at what happened would the consumer-goods economy of America be understood. Not only did this cause a huge hardship for the population it also showed a challenge for political leadership in America. When Roosevelt took office the nation was near an economic collapse with unemployment at thirteen million. His first step was to save the banks. He drafted new legislature for banking that would help the stronger banks to reopen with government help and force the weaker banks to close.Roosevelt launched New Deal programs that would help in industrial and agricultural recovery, two of the hardest economic fields hit. This New Deal helped with immediate problems that were around in the 1930s with programs that addressed relief in unemployment and destitute citizens. But in 1935 reform took t he place of recovery and relief. Roosevelt was developing a broker-state concept of government, responding to pressures from organized elements such as corporations, labor unions, and farm groups while ignoring the needfully and wants of the dispossessed who had no clear political voice (761).This caused a major pressure for change because it did not help the average guy and was meant more for internal government change. The New Deal did have an learn on the quality of life in America, but also had some downfall. Labor unions was one influenced that changed history along with the introduction of Social Security, but the New Deal seemed to only help the more birdcall and organized groups and left minorities out. But still Roosevelts impact on U. S.politics lead to the uplifting of the American people at a time when it was desperately needed in order to survive during a very disturbing and hard time. I dont want to believe it was greed that caused this problem, but rather a misguid ed dream of the want of something better. Isnt that the American dream? Reference Divine, R. A. , Breen, T. H. , Fredrickson, G. M. , & Williams, R. H. (1987). America Past and Present 2nd. Ed. Illinois Scott, Foresman and Company.