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The American Economic Crisis

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The Great depression In the 1920’s the stock market seemed to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for many investors. While using credit or their life savings it slipped people’s minds that stocks were and are no guarantee of return on investment. In March of 1929 the first mini-crash hit the stock market. But it wasn’t until October 24 of that year that the first big crash happened. The day known as “Black Thursday” saw almost 13 million shares being sold, but through the bedlam bankers investing their own money calmed the situation and people started buying again. However by Tuesday the 29th the stocks had crashed again as over 16million shares were sold. This was the start of what would be known as the great depression. From 1929 until 1939 America suffered the greatest economic crisis the country had ever seen and is perhaps the worst even to this day. During that 10 years unemployment reached nearly 24 percent. Amazing and horrifying considering the average rate is about 4 or 5 percent. In the beginning there was no minimum wage, no unemployment benefits and no welfare. It is estimated that the average wage was around .05 to .20 cents an hour for those lucky enough to have steady work. With gas around .15c per gallon, eggs .18c a dozen, and bread .08c a loaf feeding your family was possible but was definitely not extravagant. The economy slowly saw improvement until 1937 when another recession hit. It wasn’t until the outbreak of World War II in 1939 that the government in support of England and France started defense manufacturing, creating jobs. But it was the attack on Pearl Harbor that lead the government to declare war and our factories went into full production. This lead to some of the lowest unemployment rates in history and out of the Great depression. War, what is it good for? The Economy.

The 1970’s oil crisis After American

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