Ch. 32 Life During the Depression 12 December 2013

The Depression Worsens By 1933, 9,000 Banks had failed. In 1932, 30,000 Companies went out of business. 25% Unemployment rate

Unemployed, Hungry??? Bread Lines – Where citizens lined up to receive a free handout of food Soup Kitchen – Relied on private charities set up to give poor people a meal

Homes / Apartments Families or individuals who could not pay their rent or mortgages lost their homes (foreclosures) Shantytowns – New communities founded by newly homeless people put up shacks on unused or public lands. Shantytowns were commonly referred to as Hoovervilles. Wanders – Unemployed Americans who began to wander around the country, walking, hitchhiking, or riding the railcars. Hobos - Wanderers who would sneak past railroad police to slip into open boxcars on freight trains for a ride to somewhere else. Hobos would camp in “Hobo Jungles” usually situated near rail yards.

The Dust Bowl From the beginnings of homesteading on the Great Plains, farmers gambled with nature. – Uprooted wild grasses that held the Soil’s Moisture. Replaced with Wheat Fields Crop Prices farmers leaving their fields uncultivated. 1932, a terrible drought struck the Great Plains. – With no grass or wheat to hold moisture soil turned to dust. From the Dakotas to Texas, America’s pastures and wheat fields became a vast “Dust Bowl.” As the drought continued the number of dust storms greatly increased Many farmers lost their lands to the bank and headed to California.

Escaping the Depression Movies – Walt Disney – Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs; – MGM - Wizard of OZ Books - John Steinbeck – added flesh and blood to journalists reports of poverty and misfortune. Wrote “The Grapes of Wrath.” – Photos – Margaret Bourke-White – photojournalist whose striking pictures showed the ravages of the drought. Radio – Offered entertainment on a more personal level. – The Lone Ranger and George Burns – Soap Operas – short dramas allowed listeners to escape into a world more exciting than their own. Sponsors were often makers of laundry soaps.

Great Depression vs. Great Recession TopicsGreat Depression Recession Bank Failures9,096 – 50% of Banks (Jan – Mar – 0.6% of Banks (Dec 2007 – May 2009) Unemployment Rate25%9.8% Economic Decline-26.5% (1929 – 1933)-3.3% (Q – Q1 2009) Biggest Decline in Dow Avg-89.2% (Sept 1929 – July 1932) -53.8% (Oct 2007 – March 2009) Change in Prices-25% (1929 – 1933)+0.5% (Dec – March 2009) Emergency Spending Programs 1.5% of GDP for 1 Year2.5% of GDP for 2 Years Government ResponsesRaise taxes, cut spendingBank Bailouts, Stimulus Plan Increase in Money Supply by Fed 17% (1933)125% (Sept 2008 – May 2009)