E At the time economists thought the great depression happened because the economy was overproducing and people weren t spending enough money Key Terms Bonus Army cid 127 Mexican Repatriation I Causes of the Great Depression A The stock market crashed BUT this did not cause the great depression 1 The stock market was a lot weaker than it looked 2 2500 is poverty line and 60 of the nations families only earn 2000 3 Workers wages are falling 4 Vast gap between wealthy and poor B 40 of people work as farmers and they are struggling 1 They had over extended during WWI bought everything on credit 2 Crop prices are falling drastically due to too much product 3 Drought in midwest dustbowl impossible to grow anything and kills livestock 4 Farmers can t pay back any of their loans so there s no money coming into banks C 1 6 of all banks go under by 1929 1 Can t lend people money to pay their mortgage can t lend businesses money 2 People stop spending money because they don t have any businesses go under 3 Consumer debt D Federal reserve raises interest rates and makes it more expensive to borrow money 1 Didn t understand consequences of this choice 2 Thought this would make people stop spending and save money to pay back banks 3 Opposite happens people can t pay anything 4 Smoot Hawley Tariff a Raise taxes on imported goods so Americans will buy cheaper American made goods b Causes problems in the international economy international trade comes to a halt F Greatness of 20s was an illusion II Great Depression affects all economic levels 1 Some families are earning less than 1 a day B Mexican Americans A Black Americans feel it first because they are already at the bottom of the economic ladder 1 People see Great Depression as an opportunity to get rid of Mexican Americans from their communities 2 Repatriation Mexicans would be round up randomly put on a train and sent back to Mexico a Most of these people were American citizens had never even been to Mexico before b Affects 400 000 people c Most Mexicans deported were men because they think the men will be competition in the job market Problem is now women and children have no one to take care of them III Effects on Family Life A Birth rate plummets 1 Falls below 2 children per couple B Divorce rate doesn t fall desertion rate skyrockets 1 Husbands pick up and leave wife and family 2 Expensive to get divorced C Children run away from homes D Men loose their self respect and become depressed E Women s responsibilities rise and more women go to work IV How the government tries to fix it A Voluntary associations aren t working donations charities B Herbert Hoover has an uncaring reputation 2 Doesn t engage in many efforts to fix this problem 3 Doesn t recognize people are starving unemployed poor C Bonus Army Veterans 1 Thinks Americans need to make it on their own and pull themselves up gov t shouldn t fix their problems 1 WWI Veterans go to congress to get money because they had been promised a bonus while they served 2 They were promised the money in 20 years but they asked for the money now congress says no 3 Set up camps in Washington DC sit in until they get their money march down Pennsylvania Ave 4 DC Officials panic and overreact want to push veterans back over river and burn down their camps a Makes Hoover look completely out of touch b In reality Hoover told military not to attack veterans but they didn t listen cid 127 D Hoover doesn t want to compromise to fix this problem
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