American Economy During and after Depression
After the First World War America was a completely different country. The twenties were a very unusual time period in American History. There are many reasons why it was called the Roaring Twenties. Most of the American people were living a great life and were able to afford luxury items; even though this didn't apply to everyone many believed that it was a time of great hopes. In the twenties, industry took a very big step. It nearly doubled. Not only did industry grow, but also so did science, laws, beliefs, arts, social lives changed, sports and the various different news from around the globe. The workweek had dropped from 60 to 48 hours. For the first time, the Americans considered play as important as work. The weekend family outing and vacation had become things workers expected it. Huge numbers of people had radios went to the movies and owned a car. Jazz was also introduced in the 20's. The car and train industry was the largest industry there was. The assembly line made mass production possible, and the industry boomed. America was now a very powerful envy of many countries. America had high production and low unemployment. But as the 20's came, the economy jostled forward. It was because everything was e
The economy continued to soar higher and higher, people were becoming richer and richer, until the stock market crashed in October of 1929. Tuesday, October 29, 1929 was "the most devastating single day in the market's history, brokers reported sales of 16.4 million shares (at the time 3 million shares traded was a busy day). The plunge in prices fed on itself as brokers sold the shares they held for buyers who failed to meet their margin calls. During October, stocks on the New York Exchange fell in value by 37 percent." (Tindall & Shi, 1221) The trickle down system (lowering income taxes to make the rich richer so that they have more money to spend and keep the economy going) failed because the rich invested their money into the stock exchange and the money wasn't worth anything because of it. Advertising also played a part in the boom, these convinced people to buy their items. Advertising took place on Posters, radio, newspapers, magazines, and in the cinemas. Hire purchase was also introduced to enable people to have consumer goods straight away. This led to higher production. Tariffs were also placed on objects on other countries things so the buyer would prefer to only buy American goods. (Hakim, 73) Once the stock market started to fall, everyone investing got out, and all the money that was in the credits and the value of the stocks was lost. There was also no attempt to help the economy out by the government. Fingers were all pointed at Herbert Hoover for not fixing the problem, even though when he went into office, it was in his campaign promise that government would stay out of business and out of the economy. Herbert Hoover had been accused of being a president who allowed the country to continue to slide into its worst depression ever. Some will grudgingly admit that Hoover did take some action, but that it was too little, too late. But the truth is far more complex. Hoover did
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tindall Shi, Model-T Three-out-of-four, Twenties American, American Hakim, Act Raising, Herbert Hoover, Latin America, Advertising Posters, Delano Roosevelt, Stock Market, stock market, mass production, assembly line, tindall shi, encarta 2 economy, encarta 1, acts passed, exactly wrong, herbert hoover, raising prices, hire purchase, 2 economy continued,
Approximate Word count = 1297
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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