Analysis Of Digging In By Robert J. Hastingss

Kostandin Valle Mr. Zoellner English Language Arts II 26 August 2015 The Devastating Effects of the Great Depression Throughout life, many people go through some type of devastating or traumatic event that can change their lives forever. For the American people of the early to mid 1930’s, the Great Depression was one of these events. The Great Depression caused a major impact on all of America and affected the economy, the government, as well as the personal life of many Americans.

Like other aspects of life in the United States, the Great Depression had affected the education system in a negative way. Schools (secondary education) across the nation closed, because of a lack of money. To make matters more worse, post-secondary educational attainment was low. Meaning that less people were going to college. ​

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the world. It began in the United States when the stock market crashed in October 1929. Everybody was sent into a panic and millions of investors were wiped out. Unemployment levels began to rise after consumer spending and investment dropped, while stock prices continued to increase. Companies started to lay off their workers, and soon nearly thirteen to fifteen million people in America were without jobs.

The great depression made a major impact on the lives of the people that lived through it. One group of people that is often overlooked are children that lived during that time period. When the parents lost their jobs the responsibility the parent once held was put on the children of the families to contribute to the income of the home. Because of this in the great depression “two-fifths of children were employed in part time jobs” (Elder 65). In Glen Elder’s book Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience he discusses how the depression affected those children in their later lives.

In 1929, America underwent an economic crisis. It was the longest and most severe depression of the industrialized western world. This was known as the Great Depression. The cause of this tragic event was partially caused by buying stock in credit. Banks handed out loans to people but when the stock market crashed, they couldn’t pay back the loan.

Throughout the many years of the Great Depression, the American economy plummeted greatly because of ongoing issues throughout the United States. The American market, and essentially continuously buying, are what keeps an economy in any country moving. The points at issue which allowed the economy to go down consist of three major factors. All three of these aspects took a great amount of citizens down along with all of their profits. Families, businesses, and employees struggled to stay standing during this time period.

Great Depression The great depression has been considered one of the worst economic downfalls in history, due to many different reasons. This economic depression affected many people now in different ways but all because of the same reason. Some of the groups affected by this turmoil were the farmers, wage workers, and the labor unions. All three of these groups of people were affected by the depression in a few ways each with a negative outcome.

Having no money, Americans had to borrow money from the bank, which did not help Americans with their debt. Overall, the Great Depression affected everyone in America in some way shape or form. Furthermore, due to the Great Depression the Braddock family was forced to make adjustments. Like most Americans at the time, Jimmy Braddock lost his job. Boxing was his only income of money along with jobs he got on the docks once in a while.

If you got lucky and did not get fired the wages fell and the buying power increased. The americans that were forced to buy on credit fell into debt,and the numbers of repossessions and foreclosures increased steadily. The gold standard fixed currency exchanged around the world, and helped spread economic distress from the U.S. through the world.7When the country elected Franklin D. Roosevelt he promised he would create federal government programs to end the Great Depression.8 The federal government programs allowed people to get more jobs and help the economy increase. Roosevelt was a big influence during this time period and impacted many people, giving jobs to citizens and boosting the economy. After Franklin Roosevelt created the federal government programs it allowed the economy and society to grow and strength from the unlucky situation.

The Great Depression of 1929 was one of America’s most influential downfalls that crippled society for years. The depression caused many years of failure and poverty for almost all of society. The government’s role during these times was crucial and critical for turning around the economy. The depression had a major effect on government’s power and involvement with the people and states. The government was less involved before the depression.

Roosevelt New Deal plan also helped businesses to recover from the Depression loss. Shlaes mentioned in 1934, “Business has recovered half its depression loss, only 30 percent of the Depression unemployed has been put to work” (Shlaes 262). Also, to help recovery from the Great Depression, the New Deal offered social insurance; “Social Security seemed a gift on a scale most American would never have expected a president to be able to offer” (Shlaes 255). The Great depression impacted the Americana government in a way that the government had to change, reform and became more cautious of economic situations.

Could you imagine living in a world with limited electricity, food, water, and other daily necessities? This is the kind of world people had to live in during the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a dark period of time in which the economy collapsed. Many people lost their jobs and money, but the government tried to give hope. To lead off, the Great Depression put millions out of work.

The average income of the American family dropped 40 percent from 1929 to 1932. Income fell from $2,300 to $1,500 per year. People lost their jobs, struggled to provide for their families, and subsequently business failed. Just as people were optimistic about the overall state of America it took a turn for the worst. The great depression hit in the fall of 1929.

The Great Depression The Great Depression was by far one of the worst times of America’s history, and the world’s history. The Depression affected everyone except for the politicians and the wealthy. During the depression a lot of people lost their jobs which caused the unemployment rate to sky rocket to 14% of America’s population was unemployed, and the number would stay their till World War 2, and the depression started in the 1920’s. Middle class workers were hit the hardest in the depression. Most of the middle class citizens lost their jobs.

In what ways did the Great Depression affect the American people? After a decade of economic prosperity, what seemed like an era that defined the concept of the American dream, quickly came to an end when the stock market on Wall Street collapsed in 1929. The aftermath of the events that occurred on Wall Street would put its heavy mark on the years to follow among the citizens of the United States. Banks closed down, unemployment rose and homelessness increased. It was a widespread national catastrophe that had its impacts on both poor and rich.