The FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. The FDIC was a provision of the Glass-Steagall Act. During the nine year period from 1921-1929 more than 600 banks failed each year. The failed banks were small banks operating in the rural suburban areas and held the deposits of mostly farmers and blue collar folks. When banks fold and continue to do so, people will start to worry about their money in any bank.
In 1863 a National Bank Act was created. It was created in order to design a national banking system, send out war loans, and establish a national currency that was available to all the people. Congress believed that this new bank system would be a smart decision since it would help resolve the financial crisis during the early events of the Civil War. The South struggled with finding financial support throughout the war. Tax programs were recently not put into effect, leaving them lost.
Unfortunately, by giving out more loans, the state banks had put more paper money into circulation, causing the value of the dollar to plummet. Inflation hurt the economy which
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was the federal government’s reaction to the financial crisis of 2008. The Dodd-Frank act symbolized the government’s regulatory stamp on the banks in the United States . This regulation from the Dodd-Frank Act set the goal to lower dependency on the bank federally by setting up regulations and tampering with companies that are deemed “Too Big to Fail”. Before the enactment of the Dodd Frank act, it took many obstacles to produce the content provided which sparked from the issue at hand with the financial downward spiral and the decisions as well as actions from overseers such as: the Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and the presiding president George Bush. Two men emerged
This being the cause of prices concerning stocks and shares to increase, to the point that it was nearly impossible to invest in the market. This being a factor in causing companies to terminate their employees swiftly, and if an individual remained employed, their wage decreased dramatically below the minimum wage. Many counterparts had invested in the stocks with loans or borrowed money, and when the market crashed, their share had been utterly wiped out, leaving them with absolutely no money. Individuals who had their money in banks, became skeptical of the banks and started to withdraw their money, to preserve their remaining savings. This, causing the banks to have to take out loans from bigger banks so that they could pay the individuals their money.
This tragic event sent Wall Street into a complete frenzy and took out millions of investors. Over the next few years, consumer investment and spending decreased. This caused sharp declines in manufacturing production and rising levels of unemployment. By 1933, 13 plus million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks failed (Coker, 2005). Thanks to the reform and relief measures placed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped diminish the most horrible effects of the Great Depression.
Bank deposits were not safe to be used because the banks failed people and thus people simply lost their savings. Banks that were still there were unsure of the economic situation and they were only concerned for their own survival and this caused them to stop giving more loans causing a decrease of the people using them. How the situation was resolved? There was a new deal that had been presented.
When the stock market crashed, wealthy people had all their saved money wiped. People couldn’t really take loans out because they were in debt owing money to the bank. After banks shut down, then local stores, factories, and restaurants all shut down. This then escalated into unemployment. Over 600% of citizens were unemployed and had no income.
The result from that is that people were getting laid off left and right so the company could still make money once again. Now the people were in debt, still buying things on installment, but unemployed. “There was no apparent way of checking this downward spiral after it had been set in motion.” (Doc. G). A lot of people didn't see anything like this coming so they were so prone to stuff like this, because they were spending money and making mistakes like overproduction.
These were actions taken to try and control the credit crunch. Hoover thought that if he helped the rich by loaning them money they would in turn expand giving the unemployed jobs, which did not sit well with the middle and lower class. And the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was too late to resolve the economic
The timing of these failures, the bank’s lack of dealing with them effectively, and the brevity of the Stock Market Crash caused the economy to suffer
half of its value in a month (Oakes 719). During the 1920s, the shift from an agricultural economy to a consumer goods based economy was taking place (Oakes 719). The shift caused crops to be valued very low, causing many people being to be unemployed, spending of what little savings they had, and then relying on “rickety credit and financial systems” (Oakes 719-720). Something very similar can be observed between the cause of the great depression and the most recent economic disaster. In both disasters, banks made risky investments or gave out risky loans, which lead to a much more disastrous financial meltdown (Oakes 720).
The companies kept pushing higher prices than what their products were really worth. This lead to the stock market crash. This meant workers were fired, wages cut, and business went out of business. After the stock market crashed, Americans lost trust in their banks to hold their
After multiple waves of panic, and the wake of the stock market crash, production slowed to an alarming level. For the next few years the United States experienced a drop in consumer spending and investment, which caused a decline in industrial output and a steep rise in unemployment. Factories and other businesses were forced to lower wages and fire several employees. By 1933, thirteen to fifteen million Americans were unemployed, and nearly half of the banks throughout the country failed. Many Americans were forced to buy with credit causing them to fall into debt.
"Great depression?" they gasped. Consumer confidence plummeted, as did consumer spending (which accounts for a stunning 2/3 of US GDP). Corporations, in a mass panic, swiftly switched into a mode of panicked layoffs and cost cutting. The banks, already spooked, continued to tighten their lending not just to consumers but to corporations and other banks as well. And ditto for the rest of the world.
