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Main Causes Of The Great Depression

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The Main Causes of the Great Depression

The Great Depression was the epitome of an economic disaster. One of the main causes for this terrible event was the infamous stock market crash of 1929. On September 23, 1929 stock prices reached an all time high, thus making people invest in stocks at a high rate to make money quickly. Exactly two months later on October 23, 1929 stock prices began to drop at an alarming rate after months of a slow decline. On the next day, people began to panic because the stock prices were not rising. Everyone invested in the stock market began to sell their stocks to prevent going bankrupt. On October 29, 1929 every investors worst nightmare became a reality, the stock …show more content…

Roosevelt in the 1930's, this plan used a series of programs to restore the economy to its former glory. FDR had 3 steps to this plan, Step one was the relief programs. The first program put into place was the emergency banking act. This act was used to prevent the closure of banks across the country. With thousands of banks closing every year, FDR knew he had to step in. This program called for a four-day mandatory shutdown of all banks so they could be financially examined before being re-opened. The second act used in the relief program was The Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA). This act was used to provide aid to all family's during the depression. This act provided relief to around 5 million households each month, the act had a fund of $500 million to aid those in need. Although this act only lasted for around one year, it provided 3 billion in aid to 20 million family's / 16% of the population at the time. Another useful part of the relief program was the Public Works Administration. This act gave several billion dollars to be used on construction in the U.S. This a massive amount of steady jobs to be created which help most American family's at the time. This also improved cities and greatly help stabilize the …show more content…

One major impact was the increased role of government in the stock market. After the crash, people were reluctant to invest in stocks or the economy. The government was then forced to step in and help try to perused people into spending money to help the economy. It was crucial for the government to step in, without the government changing things around the economy would have never been restored as fast as it did.

Since a main reason the stock market crashed was due to faulty investing, the government had to set certain regulations to prevent a second crash from happening. The stock market after the major stock market crash of 1929 took 25 years to recover. It took this long with well designed plans made to recover it. Therefore the government couldn't risk another set back and thus set regulations on the stock market and on banks. Regulations were set on the stock market to prevent people from short-term investing. This tactic was commonly used by regular people investing in stocks temporarily in order to make a few extra dollars. Common people were only thinking about the short-term gain, and not the long term effects it would eventually cause. Regulations were also set on banks in order to prevent them closing down so rapidly. Thousands of banks were being shutdown yearly, so the government stopped banks from investing in the stock market and had every bank

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