1. Approaching Depression

2. Republican domestic and international economic policies1
Republican domestic and international economic policies

3. Unchecked stock speculation2
Unchecked stock speculation

4. Weak and unregulated banking institutions3
Weak and unregulated banking institutions

5. Overproduction of goods4
Overproduction of goods

6. The decline of the farming industry5
The decline of the farming industry

7. Unequal distribution of wealth6
Unequal distribution of wealth

8. The Postwar Economic Boom
20’s Economic boom leads to overproduction and over-consumption
#’s of poor increased (farmers,
factory workers) - they couldn’t afford high number of luxury goods being produced.

9. Contin.
Stock market crashes but isn’t only reason for depression…

10. Republican Economic Policies
“The business of America is business.”
Coolidge and his staff support ‘trickle-down economics’
produces a widening gap b/t rich and poor.

11. cont… International $ problems
we loaned Britain and France huge sums of $ that they couldn’t pay back.

12. Real Estate and Stock Speculation
Speculation = risky investment hoping to make large profit - widespread in 1920’s.
real-estate in CA and Fl “promised beach-front property” scams.

13. cont. Unchecked stock market speculation
as real-estate market goes under, people turn to stock market.
Unethical practices were not regulated by gov.

14. The Crash of the Market and Banking Industry
Downward spiral of stock prices…SELL, SELL, SELL!
“Black Tuesday” results in American business losses of $16 Billion!

15. cont.
Laissez faire attitude brings banks to their knees (and their debtors)
banks invested too - w/ other people’s money - and lost! (one-fourth of the nation’s banks closed!)

16. Overproduction
Since people were willing to buy lots of stuff, lots of stuff was being produced = basic supply and demand.

17. Mechanized factories produced more industrial goods than ever
Farmers produced more and more even though Europe no longer needed their crops.

18. The Toll on the Farming Industry
Backbone of American Economy
banks foreclosed, farmers lost, people moved
The Dust Bowl
People lived in squalor - shanty towns, famine, no medicine

19. Unequal Distribution of Wealth
Huge gap between rich and poor
60% of Amer. lived at poverty level.
1% of Amer. owned more than half of the country’s wealth.
“Trickle-down” didn’t work

20. Industrial worker and farmer alike replaced by machines.
No more purchasing power - Everyone was stuck!