1. The Great Depression Essential Questions:
What caused the Great Depression? Why did it last as long as it did?
How did the role of government change?
Compare and Contrast radical, conservative, and liberal approaches to the Great Depression.
How did the GD affect Americans?
Did the New Deal solve the GD?

2. Seeming Prosperity of the 1920s
1921 Post-war slump
Americans earning more
Mass production
$pend, $pend, $pend

3. Great Depression
Economy plummets and there is high unemployment

4. Republican Policies
“The chief business of the American people is business”--Coolidge
Domestic
Tax cuts and trickle down economics
International
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)
Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)

5. Uneven Distribution of Wealth
Result of Government policies
Growing gap between rich and poor

6. Excessive Use of Credit
Advertising stimulates purchasing
Installment Plans
Farm debts from technology and land purchases during wartime boom

7. Overproduction Continued production with new technology and efficiency
Farm production on war levels
Drop in demand

8. Stock Market Speculation
Speculation: Get rich quick
Buying on Margin
Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929

9. Bank Failures Loans go unpaid
Run on the Banks: No money for withdrawals
9,000 banks close, $2.5 billion lost

10. Business Failures Auto industry faced greatest impact
No customers, too many goods—no business

11. Unemployment No businessNo jobs 1933 NYC=50% unemployment
25% of people are unemployed
33% underemployed
NYC=50% unemployment
Toledo, OH =80%

12. How do these causes relate to each other?
Which of these causes may have contributed to our current economic situation?