Great Depression Reflection

-How does this essay change your understanding of the Great Depression?
When I think about the Great Depression, I think about the traditional American side that post-war, the economy failing because of the lack of trade and flow of money. The stock market crash and the failure of banks sparked the Great Depression, but what did not come to mind, until I analyzed the photo essay, was the effect it had on migrants and people in the farming industry to that extent. There were two large devastations during this time period: the stock market crash and the dust bowl drought. People had less faith in the bank and less faith in the ideology of saving through trusting a intermediary transaction system. After people were left without their savings in the bank, many farmers were kicked off their farms after an extreme drought. Crop failures went ramped and migrants from other countries were dealing with the devastation of not living long enough in the United States to become citizens. Animosity of immigrants grew—shown in an

example of Filipinos farming pea crops—even though they were already being exploited by being paid next-to-nothing wages. Another interesting effect of the Great Depression was the decline of sharecropping and the lessening of marginalization. According to the photo essay, I saw some racial division in the beginning of the Great Depression where there were still segregated buildings, however, later on, different races were militant and unionized to fight against the economic exploitation of large corporations. Even though in most regards, the Great Depression impeded economic growth, there was a new emergence of social growth that only a traumatic event could bring people together.
Many people in the photo essay—men, women, and children—had the look of desperation to find a job, so employers took advantage of their desperation for employment and paid them the minimum wage. Strikes and labor unions were the least effective during this time period because companies knew that if their workers left their jobs, there would always be another person in line ready for a job. People resorted to all different kinds of jobs. Those who were scared to go on relief or homelessness due to its commonality would sell apples: in New York, there were 5,000 apple sellers on one street! There was widespread homelessness—especially in cities—people were gathered in abandoned warehouses and freight cars as housing. These harsh conditions lead to worse health conditions. There was a photo of Bud field's family and the whole family had hopeless frowns on their faces and a sick child on the bed. There were images of children working and sleeping in dusty and poorly kept houses with kitchens that were stripped of food and supply. Also, I was unaware the affect the Great Depression had on children. Especially migrant children, less emphasis was placed on education but rather survival. When their primary income—like parents and older siblings—became ill and unable to work, the children often suffered migrating back on the road to find relief.
-Does the essay impact your opinion whether to support Classical or Keynesian policies to fight the Great Depression?
The photo essay drives me to support Keynesian policies to fight the Great Depression.

In the beginning, Hoover did not do enough to aid the Great Depression; he relied on private businesses and state and local governments to stimulate the economy, even though the federal government had such an impact on the spending economy. People were forced to asked for relief and this hindered the bounce out of the Great Depression further, rather than making long term changes necessary. I liked that when Theodore Roosevelt implicated policies in The New Deal to incorporate federal expansion into the economy. It is shown that there is never a set amount of time for a recession, which can spiral into a depression lasting as long as the Great Depression. Only active government change shifted the economy back into its spending patterns and back into global trade. That is what we need to combat the cycle that could become stagnant in the depression/recession

phase.