Economics: The South Sea Bubble

The new consumer culture is what led to 16.5 million shares being sold in one day, which was detrimental to the stock market as it caused the crash on October 29, 1929. Many lost a great deal of money, marking the start of the Great Depression. The excessive consumer culture also led to a vast majority of prosperity going towards the industrial economy instead of the

The tariff also increased living costs, limit exports and hurt investors as the high tariffs would make it harder for debtors to pay off loans, continuing to weaken banks. Overproduction and a faulty banking system were two of many factors that led to the Great Depression. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff also served to deteriorate conditions. Although several would argue about the causes of the Great Depression, one thing is for sure: this economic crisis was the most important economic depression of the twentieth century, which was accompanied by significant deflation and an explosion of unemployment and pushed the authorities to a deep reform of the financial

After the first war Britain switched their money over to the “Gold Exchange”, which did not help them economically. While making this switch, they also overvalued the pound at 1-4.86 (U.S. dollar). The U.S. in turn reduces its interest (5). Jumping past the roaring 20s, the “depression” hits and the government sets up many different policies, which exacerbate the downfall. Tariffs and wage standards are inflicted and the unemployment rate continues to soar.

The feelings of distain were only further enhanced when tax payer bailouts saved Wall Street from a problem that was essentially self-created. The post GFC world saw the American economy stagnate, as unemployment soared and economic growth dwindled. People began to believe Wall Street had learned nothing from the meltdown of 2008 as financiers continued to receive hefty salaries and bonuses, while aggressive lobbying killed any reform preventing such crisis from occurring again (Jihong, 2011). The majority of Americans continued to struggle after the GFC, however, Wall Street continued to carry on as if everything was well in American life. The disconnect began to boil and with no political changes to remedy the problem for the American people their energy was set ablaze into a movement known as Occupy Wall

Businesses could not afford to slow downproduction during the Panic, so they continued to keep their prices high, but the people didn’thave access to the scarce money. Not only were businesses charging high prices, but also thePhiladelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, causing less modes of transportation for work-ers and farmers. In total, over 15,000 companies went bankrupt during the Panic and the unem-ployment was the highest in history.Labor Unions were also created during the Gilded Age, which added to the idea of theGilded Age being truly “gilded”. The American Federation of Labor was one of the first laborunions created in the United States. The AF of L wanted “unionism” and opposed socialism.

Farmers being the backbone to the American agriculture and having it fail because of companies, shows just how deep of a hole the Stock market had fallen in. Small farmers could not compete with the new economic climate and were driven out of business. Advances in technology increased production but also caused overproduction of food;however, food demand did not rise with the increased production. With this all adding up, increased food production and farmers without jobs, it only added to the unemployment of the time. (Wall Street Crash of

The Great Depression of 1929-1939 was the most severe and the longest depression in U.S. history. Even though the stock market crash of October 1929, was the major factor for the depression, other factors contributed to the great depression. During the 1920s, America was experiencing a false sense of prosperity. Another problem was overproducing too many industrial goods which decreased the prices, and on the other hand, not having enough buying power due to the disparity between rich and poor (40% of the nation’s wealth was owned by the richest people that consisted only 1% of American population), also contributed to the great depression. During the 1920s, high tariffs on imported goods increased the profits of American companies, but as

With so many people living on welfare programs, jobs are not receiving workers, there are more homeless people, and a ridiculous amount of federal money in place to support these programs. The most serious of the many effects of unemployment is the effect on the economy. “Higher unemployment will cause a fall in tax revenue because there is less people paying income tax. Also the government will have to spend more on unemployment and related benefits” (Pettinger). With a fall in tax revenue, the nation’s income as a whole is reduced, which decreases the amount of money in circulation, increasing the United State’s federal debt.

Margin buying was a way of attracting the less wealthy to buy stocks. It allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest. Brokers charged high interest and could demand payment of the loan at any time. If the stock went up, you could pull your money out to pay off the loan and interest charges and still make money. This contributed to the Great Depression because the majority of people were not wealthy.

The minimum wage should not be raised because it would increase the price for the consumer, it could harm the small businesses of America, and it could cause millions of minimum wage workers to be laid off. If the minimum wage were to increase, consumers could see a rise in prices in their products. A majority of minimum wage workers are in a high competitive market, where the companies make smaller profit. In order for companies to

The Great Depression was a period of severe economic recession that flogged the American people. It was primarily caused by the overproduction of goods and the massive unequal distribution of wealth. America during the years leading up to the depression had an abundance of production coming off the recent World War, but since wages hadn’t increased, no one was able to buy the products. Also, by 1927, nearly forty percent of all the nations wealth was controlled by the top five percent, and this caused an extremely unstable economy. Similarly, the failure of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff and the closing of banks were both minor causes of the Great Depression.

What causes a recession is inflation. Inflation is a general increase in prices and the fall in the value of money. Falling confidence in the consumer can be a major cause in leading to a recession. Also, manufacturing orders starting to slow down in the economy, this can lead to less money being produced throughout the economy resulting to a loss of jobs. Since this causes a high unemployment rate many of the people will get on a government welfare program to pay for their family and that is even more money being lost in the economy, making the nation fall into a deeper recession.

In the 1920’s America felt that its society would continue its climb towards success. People were buying goods on credit with the expectation that they would easily pay their debts with the raises they would get from there every increasing paychecks. However, this extreme success of America led to an extreme downturn in it 's economics. With the bank runs on Black Tuesday, the overproduction of goods, and people’s extreme debt, America plunged itself into the Great Depression. The president of the time, Herbert Hoover, did little to help the straining economy.

The Federal Reserve thought it would come to the rescue by increasing the value of the dollar. How did it do this? By raising interest rates, this slowed down the economy. Without funds to grow, businesses started firing workers, leading to a vicious downward economic spiral that became With the causes and effects of Black Tuesday, businessmen changed their attitudes on economy; the role in economy changed too. Businessmen and political leaders were more eager to change history and improvise so that this wouldn’t be a repeat in history.

Little did anyone know, everything they did was gradually setting the country up for economic demise. Factories were producing more than people could purchase, therefore losing many materials and money. Plus the government was giving out loans that people couldn’t pay back, which gradually brought debt throughout the country. Political wrong-doings, unhealthily high productivity rates, unequal distribution of America’s assets; these were all things that seemed good at the time, but proved to be more bad than good as it led America into its darkest time: The great Depression. At the time of The Great Depression, the US president was Herbert Hoover.