The Great Depression Essay

1508 Words4 Pages

The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United Sates. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day today although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully the United States of America has had its shares of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred. Something that may come to everyone’s mind now days and the number one thing that is looked at after a presidential election and every New Year is stock. Stocks determine the health of the economy, the money people are willing to invest, take risks on and win back or lose, but because of the crash, it discouraged people from investing in stocks and instead a huge amount of withdrawals happened leading to the economic collapse that occurred. The U.S government began to worry it would run out of gold because everyone began to turn the couple dollars they still had into gold so the Federal Reserve decided to increase the value of the dollar. Banks began to fail and lose savings; people had to withdrawal the money they had left, leaving banks no other choice but to shut down. In turn everything in the present and the future is judged through the stocks as they hold a high importance in industrialized economies showing the healthiness of said countries economy. As investing discourages consumer spending over all decreases, it lead... ... middle of paper ... ...lity and pensions for old age, which wasn’t there before and thanks to The Great Depression helps out all Americans that need economic relief while taken advantage off sometimes Social Security has arguably kept America out of economic chaos (“What is Social Security”?). The great depression led us to have a better economic system and changed economic thinking. Laws were passed in order to prevent another depression from happening. Although many years have passed since the great Depression, things that were seen back then are still being seen today in 2014. High unemployment rates and low income among families forced to need the help of welfare are seen today as they were seen during the time of the Great Depression. The contrast between now and then however, is that the economy is under more control due to the laws that were passed to prevent another depression.

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