Who Was To Blame For The Great Depression Research Paper

859 Words4 Pages

The banks were to blame for the ‘great depression’ to what extent do you agree with this statement?

The Great Depression was a period of unprecedented decline in economic activity. It is generally agreed to have occurred between 1929 and 1939. Although parts of the economy had begun to recover by 1936, high unemployment persisted until the Second World War. Many people say that the banks were to blame because Many banks experiencing shortages of cash were forced to sell their assets at fallen price levels and were thus driven to insolvency or that state deposit insurance programs. However, Herbert Hoover and his predecessors' policies undoubtedly contributed to more to the crisis and the Great Depression was triggered by the 1929 crash of the stock market.

Some people would say that the banks were to blame for the ‘great depression because they made long lasting effects on America's economy and peoples emotional stability that still continues to this day, perhaps they would say this because assets were sold by the banks as fallen prices due to the shortages of cash. In the four years of 1930-1933 alone, nearly 10,000 banks failed or were suspended. These banks …show more content…

Concurrently, stock prices perpetuated to elevate, and by the fall of that year had reached levels that could not be justified by anticipated future earnings. The stock market bubble finally burst, as investors began dumping shares on October 24, 1929, this lead to millions of shares being worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks “on margin” were wiped out completely. This caused people to become much poorer and have to go through a change in lifestyle which was bad especially for the time as social standing was very important if you intended to move up from your class, Which is a main cause of the ‘great