The Great Depression - Main Causes, Impact on the Economy, Solving the Depression, and Lessons Learned. Works Cited included

Essay by sweetbootieUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, January 2004

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Introduction

Like us, many of you had a loved one that lived during the Great Depression. Many of us have heard stories from our parents or grandparents of the horrific times of the depression; stories that told us how hard it was to find a job, put food on the table, and to provide shelter for the family. Learning how to live without things was a battle all by itself. Hearing the stories made me grateful to be born in a different era. However, each era has it's own battles to fight that will change the direction of the economy and maybe the world.

Many people feel that we are in a depression. Unemployment rising, business closing its doors, and poverty in the United States on a rise, would make you think that we are in a depression. However, after careful research from articles, books, videotape, and previously conducted surveys, on the main causes of the depression, we realize that the recession that we are in is far from the Great Depression. Our research also uncovered the impacts of the depression that played a role in reforming the economy. Also, our research will show us how Franklin D. Roosevelt solved the depression and got the economy rolling again. Finally, there were many lessons learned by banks, business owners, and the government. We hope that the details of the Great Depression will enlighten you with comparisons on our current recession.

Main Causes

The main causes for the Great Depression were a combination of unequally distributed wealth, the stock market crash, and eventually the bank failures. The unequal distribution of wealth existed on many levels. Money was distributed unequally between the rich and the middle class, between industry and agriculture within the US, and between the US and Europe. This...