Causes Of The Great Depression

“No one can possibly have lived through the Great Depression without being scarred by it. No amount of experience since the depression can convince someone who has lived through it that the world is safe economically” (Isaac Asimov). One thing that historians can agree on is that before the depression the economy was most definitely unstable. In fact, as Asimov said, many never recovered from the pain the the depression had caused, so they were forever suspicious of the economy. Unfortunately, in the time leading up to the Great Depression (mainly the 1920’s), there were a great many problems that emerged and were unaddressed, that ultimately caused the terrible depression that affected the entire nation’s lives in the 1930’s. Nowadays, people

The Great Depression was caused by multiple problems that arose due to changing social standings and standards, the U.S.’s choice to change its stance on how to approach foreign and domestic affairs, and its unstable businesses and economy.

After World War One, the U.S. experienced many changes as it went through the 1920’s. A great many of these had to do with entertainment, what was socially acceptable, and what the standard of living should be for the average American. When it came to entertainment, sports grew in popularity as people were able to follow them with the invention of the radio. In regards to what was socially acceptable, things changed for women as younger women decided to be rebellious and dress act what was considered unacceptably. These women were called the flappers. The change that helped cause the depression was the change in what was considered the standard of living for Americans. It became common for people to purchase appliances and for families to own a car. The standard of living was increasing, and this led to an increase in consumerism. This increase in consumerism led directly to two other problems that contributed to causing the Great

It is amazing how the country could go from such a state of growth in the 1920’s to a depression in the 1930’s. The truth is, the U.S. wasn’t always growing during the 1920’s; in fact, a lot of problems were being created or growing larger than they had been before. New social standards that led to consumerism, growing social differences, political changes, and underlying issues in the American economy ultimately led to the depression. It took a very specific combination of problems to cause such a terrible depression. Often, most people don’t see scenarios like this coming until it is too late. This isn’t only true for the Great Depression. The 2008 financial crisis was unforeseen by many. Many problems had begun to stack up, just like they had before the Great Depression. Despite this, the event wasn’t avoided. It would be fantastic to say that we have learned from our mistakes by now, but this can’t be said since we tend to make more mistakes despite our best efforts to avoid them. Hopefully any future disasters can be avoided, but this is extremely unlikely since history tells us that sometimes it is only a matter of time before an economic downturn