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The Great Depression: Governments
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The Great Depression was not a sudden total collapse. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April, though still almost 30 percent below of peak in September 1929.[2] Together government and business actually spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the prior year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the USA beginning in the northern summer of 1930.
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The Great Depression was a turning point for Canada. Before 1930, the government intervened as little as possible, believing the free market would take care of the economy, and that churches and charities would take care of society. But in the 1930s a growing demand arose for the government to step in and create a social safety net with minimum hourly wages, a standard work week, and programs such as medicare and unemployment insurance.
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The Great Depression (1930-1938) came on the heels of a U.S. stock market crash in 1929 and brought with it widespread bank failures, a 25 percent unemployment rate and widespread poverty. Both the market crash and the Depression were blamed on the alleged excesses of free-market capitalism. Investors were blamed for reckless speculation. Bankers were accused of fraud. If free markets failed, said economists and politicians at the time, then government intervention would "fix" the failure. A vast expansion of government ensued, including a more powerful Federal Reserve, the Social Security system and laws favoring labor unions.
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The Great Depression helped elevate the Social Credit Party to a 36-year run as the government of Alberta. Discover the history of the Social Credit Party, and the life stories of some of the party's leaders, like William Aberhart and Ernest Manning, in the Heritage Community Foundation website: Alberta's Political History.
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The Depression brought only a minor decline in Great Britain's economy, the British economy having already been stagnant in 1929. The world's economic depression caught the Labour Party running the government, and some folks in Britain blamed Labour Party politicians for their economy's poor performance. Their vote helped to send more Conservatives to parliament, and a new government of national unity was formed - a coalition of Labour and Conservatives. The socialist Ramsey MacDonald remained Prime Minister, and the conservative Stanley Baldwin became the dominant figure in the cabinet, dominant ... over MacDonald.
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The initial government response to the Great Depression was ineffective, as President Hoover insisted that the economy was sound and that prosperity would soon return. Hoover believed the basic need was to restore public confidence so businesses would begin to invest and expand production, providing jobs and income to restore the economy to health. But business owners saw no reason to increase production while unsold goods clogged their shelves. By 1932 investment had dropped to less than 5 percent of its 1929 level.
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