Great Depression Doctrine

The Great Depression was an era of great distraught for the vast majority of those who endured it. Since then, there have been a great number of theories as to what caused this traumatic time in American history. The Real Bills Doctrine was a theory that argued that if banks only made sensible business loans, the economy and banking system would remain in good standing. This theory also speculated that if loans were made for the wrong reasons, such as for the stock market, problems would arise. This is the often unrealized origin of the common theory that the stock market crash was the primary cause of The Great Depression. While it is understandable that one would speculate that the stock market crash was the leading cause of The Great Depression, it is also a very over-simplified way of looking at the

They expanded until the point that the workers could not continue to power the expansion. This resulted in an unavoidable slowdown, a huge wage increase and a large spread of wealth. At this point, the top one percent of America owned over a third of all American assets. When all of the wealth remains in the hands of such a small number of people, as they tend to hold onto it rather than release it back into society, economic growth can be quickly halted. While all of this was happening, banks were operating with very few regulations. They did not run with guarantees to their customers and they were also lending money to those who spent their loans recklessly within the stocks. When the stock market crashed, this caused a large number of banks to be suspended. In addition to these standing issues, President Hoover was elected. Hoover had a “minimalist approach to government intervention” (The Great Depression). This obviously did not contribute to the economy, as is shrunk more and more throughout his entire