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What was the Great Depression?

The definition for the

Great Depression is

a period during the

1930's when there was

a worldwide economic

depression and a mass

unemployment.

Causes of the Great Depression

There are many causes

of the Great Depression. One

major cause includes the

stock market crash of 1929. The

stock market crash occurred on

October 29, 1929. That December,

stockholders lost more than $40

billion dollars. When the stock

market began to improve a little

a year later, it wasn't enough.

We then entered the Great

Depression.

Another cause of the

Great Depression is the rapid

bank failures. Over half of

the banks failed throughout

the 1930's. That was over

9,000 banks across America

that closed down. The banks that

did not fail however, stopped

giving as many loans out. People

then did not have as many

expenditures.

When the stock market crashed, and the

banks began to fail, people from every

class stopped buying items. Since individuals

stopped buying items, this reduced the number

of items produced, which in tern, reduced the

workforce. The unemployment rate rose over

25%, and if you didn't have a job, you couldn't

pay your mortgage or even food. This lead to a great catastrophe.

The Current Situation

The causes of the Great Depression were

very severe. However, the United States

has fortunately not experienced these drastic

causes today. Yes, we have had a rise in

unemployment rates, but they haven't been

anywhere near the 25% that they were during

the Great Depression.

In our current situation, banks are not failing like

they did in the great depression. The banks today

however don't have additional money to give out

for loans. During the Great Depression, people took

out extremely risky loan to buy stocks, but then the

stock market crashed. The people had no way to pay

the money back.

During the Great Depression, over

half of the banks closed. But compared

to today, it is approximated that only

31 of 8 thousand banks have closed in

the past 3 years. This is a huge difference

since the 1930's.

Contrasting the Great Depression

and today's Current Situation

There are many differences

about the Great Depression

and the Current situation today.

During the Great Depression,

3 million children were forced to

quit school. Today, children are

not forced to quit school.

During the Great

Depression, the

circulation of money

was so low that in 1932

and in 1933, the US mints

did not even mint nickels.

In today's situation, the US

mints have not stopped

the production of any

coins for a given amount

of time.

Many experts believe that the end of the

Great Depression was caused by the start of

World War 2. This was because the United

States needed to produced items needed by

the British. This produced many jobs for

the people. However, in today's current situation,

we are not entering a war. So that will not help

the US get out of it's current situation.

Comparing the Great Depression

to the Current Situation

There are many similar situations that

took place during the Great Depression

and also in today's Current Situation.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt created the

New Deal program, unemployment rates

dropped from 25% to 15%. In today's situation

President Bush and President Obama created

the $700 and $770 billion stimulus packages.

The president from the Great Depression, and

the presidents from the Current Situation created

things to help the US get through the rough times.

Franklin D. Roosevelt also created the program called

Social Security during the Great Depression. This

program is still used today, and it helps the US

with it's current situation.

Many of the programs

that were created during

the Great Depression, also

help us today. I believe that

is why we have not reached

another depression, because

we've learned from the

previous one.

In Conclusion...

The Great Depression compares and contrasts to our current situation in many different ways. The unemployment rates rose in both situations, the presidents of each time period created different programs to help the US get though the rough times, and there has been bank closures in both.

However, my personal opinion is that the United States is not heading towards another Great Depression. The unemployment rate is much lower than it was during the Great Depression, the stock market is much better, and we are not going though and awful drought like the people of the Great Depression went though.

Sources

  • "Causes Of The Great Depression | The Great

Depression | Causes, Effects, Timelines." Causes

Of The Great Depression | The Great Depression |

Causes, Effects, Timelines. Web. 31 May 2012.

<http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/>.

  • "WTVY - HomePage." WTVY - HomePage.

Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.wtvy.com/>.

  • "30 Facts about the Great Depression?" Yahoo!

Answers. Yahoo! Web. 31 May 2012.

<http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?>.

  • "American History." About.com. Web. 31 May

2012. <http://americanhistory.about.com/>.

  • "Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus."

The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Web. 31 May 2012.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/>.

  • USA Today. Gannett. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.usatoday.com/>.

(history.knoji.com)

(www.thefreedictionary.com)

b

Here is a graph comparing the

unemployment rate during the Great

Depression, to the unemployment

rate now.

(www.wtvy.com)

The Great Depression

Vs.

The Current Situation.

During the 1930's, there was a severe drought

in the Mississippi Valley, also known as

"The Dust Bowl". Although this drought was

not a direct cause of the Great Depression, many

people had to sell their farms so they could pay

their debts and taxes. It also forced many of the people to move.

(americanhistory.about.com)

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