Comparing The Great Depression And WWII
Great Depression and WWII
Business leaders and economists told Americans it was their duty to buy stocks
John J. Raskob
• Chairman of the board of GM
• Wrote an article stating that a person who invested $15 in a good common stock per month would have $80,000 within 20 years
Bull market of the 1920s
• Stock prices increased at twice the rate of industrial production
• Paper value outran real value
4 million Americans owned stocks
• Had been lured into the market through margin accounts
Allowed investors to purchase stocks by making a small down payment and borrowing the rest from a broker
The Crash
The Wall Street crash of 1929 was not a one or two day catastrophe
• It was a …show more content…
People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people”
Underlying Weaknesses
The economy after the crash became less resistant to existing problems
• Workers and consumers received too small a share of the enormous increases in labor productivity
1923-1929: manufacturing output per worker-hour increased by 32%
Wages only rose 8% during the same …show more content…
Harry Hopkins Former NYC social worker Driven by deep moral passion to help the less fortunate Emerged as a key figure for New Deal relief programs Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) Provided immediate relief to the nation’s farmers Established a new federal role in agricultural planning and price setting Established parity prices for basic farm commodities Corn, wheat, hogs, etc Parity pricing
• Based on the purchasing power that farmers had enjoyed during the prosperous years of 1909-1914
Incorporated the principle of subsidy Farmers received benefit payments in return for reducing acreage or cutting production where surpluses existed Landlords often failed to share their AAA payments with tenant farmers Frequently used benefits to buy tractors and other equipment that displaced sharecroppers
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) One of the most unique projects of the New Deal era Built dams and power plants Produced cheap fertilizer for farmers Brought cheap electricity for the first time to thousands of people Stood as a model of how careful government planning could dramatically improve the social and economic welfare of an underdeveloped
Business leaders and economists told Americans it was their duty to buy stocks
John J. Raskob
• Chairman of the board of GM
• Wrote an article stating that a person who invested $15 in a good common stock per month would have $80,000 within 20 years
Bull market of the 1920s
• Stock prices increased at twice the rate of industrial production
• Paper value outran real value
4 million Americans owned stocks
• Had been lured into the market through margin accounts
Allowed investors to purchase stocks by making a small down payment and borrowing the rest from a broker
The Crash
The Wall Street crash of 1929 was not a one or two day catastrophe
• It was a …show more content…
People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people”
Underlying Weaknesses
The economy after the crash became less resistant to existing problems
• Workers and consumers received too small a share of the enormous increases in labor productivity
1923-1929: manufacturing output per worker-hour increased by 32%
Wages only rose 8% during the same …show more content…
Harry Hopkins Former NYC social worker Driven by deep moral passion to help the less fortunate Emerged as a key figure for New Deal relief programs Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) Provided immediate relief to the nation’s farmers Established a new federal role in agricultural planning and price setting Established parity prices for basic farm commodities Corn, wheat, hogs, etc Parity pricing
• Based on the purchasing power that farmers had enjoyed during the prosperous years of 1909-1914
Incorporated the principle of subsidy Farmers received benefit payments in return for reducing acreage or cutting production where surpluses existed Landlords often failed to share their AAA payments with tenant farmers Frequently used benefits to buy tractors and other equipment that displaced sharecroppers
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) One of the most unique projects of the New Deal era Built dams and power plants Produced cheap fertilizer for farmers Brought cheap electricity for the first time to thousands of people Stood as a model of how careful government planning could dramatically improve the social and economic welfare of an underdeveloped