Great Depression Essay

1225 Words5 Pages

Background information: The Great Depression was the worst economic failure in US history. It happened during 1929-1939. Banks closed, the stock market crashed, and people lost their jobs, homes, money, and lives. The Great Depression was caused by banks giving out too many loans which resulted in bankruptcy. Factories were overproducing and they had too many of the same products that nobody was buying Which eventually led to them going out of business.
Food was hard to find and buy due to the lack of income and resources. The stock market crash in October 1929 caused a downward spiral in income. Unemployment rates were at 25% as fewer people were able to find jobs. The Great Depression left many on the street, many dead, and many without …show more content…

Some grown-ups could not find jobs that paid half of that salary at the time. During this time you were not able to take work for granted because you needed to be able to provide for your family by any means necessary so this is why people had to work so hard. Food was hard to find and buy during the Great Depression because of the lack of income and resources. With homelessness and lack of employment on the rise, many families struggled to find food, “Millions of people lost all their savings and their jobs, and thousands became homeless because they could not afford to pay their rent” (Bingham Pg 11). In this quote The Great Depression is being discussed financially showing how much money people lost and how many estimated jobs were lost. This explains how people lost homes and food. They were homeless and could not afford basic needs like food and water. Part of the reason people didn't have access to food is because of the Dust Bowl which was caused by extreme weather conditions for example droughts, high winds, and high temperatures, and this took out all …show more content…

At a point Unemployment rates were at 25% due to companies having to fire people to save money. During this time companies were quickly going bankrupt which affected many people's household and well being since they no longer had anything to work for and because of this a estimated amount of 273,000 Americans were left without homes in 1933 and because of this many people left there country and state to try to find work elsewhere most people migrated to California, Oregon, and Seattle. (Bingham, 2011). In this quote Bill O’reilly who later in his life became an author explains the toll that the great depression had on many families and the effect that is caused. “My parents were children during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and it scarred them. Especially my father, who saw destitution in his Brooklyn, New York neighborhood; adults standing in so-called 'bread lines,' children begging in the streets.” (Bill O’reilly) Bill O’reilly is really emphasizing how scary The Great Depression was. People saw their lives switch in a matter of days the day before they were financially stable and the next they weren't, which was a huge struggle for