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America's Great Depression: United States
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The Great Depression (... known in the U.K. as the Great Slump) was a dramatic, worldwide economic downturn beginning in some countries as early as 1928. The beginning of the Great Depression in the United States is associated with the stock market crash on October 29 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The depression had devastating effects in both the industrialized countries and those which exported raw materials. International trade declined sharply, as did personal incomes, tax revenues, prices, and profits. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries.
The psychological, cultural, and political repercussions of the Great Depression were felt around the world, but it had a significantly different impact in different countries. In particular, it is widely agreed that the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany was associated with the economic turmoil of the 1930s. No similar threat emerged in the United States. While President Franklin Roosevelt did introduce a variety of new programs, he was initially elected on a traditional platform that pledged to balance the budget. Why did the depression cause less political change in the United States than elsewhere? A much longer experience with democracy may have been important.
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The "Great Depression" in the U.S. was a decade of unemployment, low profits, low prices, high poverty and stagnant trade. It was part of the Great Depression that affected the entire world in the 1930s. Worst hit sectors were heavy industry, agriculture, mining and logging; least affected were white collar workers. The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression in the United States which then spread to every continent. The depression ended in the late 1930s and caused major political changes, especially the New Deal that involved large scale federal relief programs, aid to agriculture, support for labor unions, and the formation of the New Deal coalition by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The long-term memories affected the nation for decades as a consensus was reached that it would not be allowed to happen again and that the nation would have "Freedom from Fear."[1]
Monetarists, including Milton Friedman and Benjamin Bernanke, argue that the Great Depression was caused by monetary contraction, which was the consequence of poor policy making by the American Federal Reserve System and continuous crisis in the banking system. By not acting, the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply to shrink by one-third from 1930 to 1931. Friedman argued the downward turn in the economy starting with the stock market crash would have been just another recession. The problem was that some large, public bank failures, particularly the Bank of the United States, produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and that the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks fell. He claimed if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply bought government bonds on the open market to provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did and the money supply would not have fallen to the extent and at the speed that it did. With significantly less money to go around, businessmen could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing.
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Monetarists, including Milton Friedman and Benjamin Bernanke, argue that the Great Depression was caused by monetary contraction, which was the consequence of poor policy making by the American Federal Reserve System and continuous crisis in the banking system.Ben S. Bernanke (2000). Essays on the Great Depression. Princeton University Press. p. 7 ISBN 0691016984 By not acting, the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply to shrink by one-third from 1930 to 1931. Friedman arguedIn A Monetary History of the United States the downward turn in the economy starting with the stock market crash would have been just another recession. The problem was that some large, public bank failures, particularly the Bank of the United States, produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and that the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks fell.
Capitalism is the most active and recognized economic theory thought during the Great Depression it weakened its strength due to many other factors but it was believed that the gap between the various classes is a temporary phase. The idea of social harmony and economic development based on the self-interest of not only the individual but ... the state and government was promoted under the theory of capitalism. In a capitalist system, the political development of the state and economic development are separate issues and both are practiced independently. So this provides more chances to make wealth in a more efficient manner, at the same time the individuals make personal effort based on self-interest to raise the standard of their living. There is no division of classes as any class can earn depending upon its earning capacity as the growing supply of products is for every one. Capitalism is principally based on a system of free market economy and trade liberalization but this is the advanced and modern form of capitalism, which was shaped after the end of the cold war between USA and former USSR.
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