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The Crash. Terms to Remember. Durable Goods: Soft Goods: Business Cycle: Economic Bubble: . Terms to Remember. Durable Goods: Goods designed to last a long time, typically very expensive Soft Goods: Goods immediately consumed with limited life span Business Cycle:
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Terms to Remember • Durable Goods: • Soft Goods: • Business Cycle: • Economic Bubble:
Terms to Remember • Durable Goods: • Goods designed to last a long time, typically very expensive • Soft Goods: • Goods immediately consumed with limited life span • Business Cycle: • Typical fluctuations in the business activity of a country • Economic Bubble: • Trade in products with inflated values
The House Built on Sand • 1920s economy very precarious • Half living below the poverty rate • Easy credit saw high personal debt loads • Stock Market levels grossly inflated • Volatile situation
Herbert Hoover • Picture of an ideal president • Self-made Man • Noted Engineer • Devoted life to charity at 40 • Profound humanitarian • Highly accomplished Secretary of Commerce
Rugged Individualism • Old theme in the United States • All should succeed on their own • Government assistance minimal • “Pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps”
Warning Signs • Predictors of recession ahead • Housing starts falling • Business inventories high • Production and wholesale prices dropped • Demand for crops dropped
Factors Leading to Depression • Economic floor wiped out • Inequality of income levels • Easy Credit • Foreign trade levels • Mechanization • All four combined to send the economy into a tailspin
The Trigger • The Stock Market crashed in October 1929 • Lost 11% of all value on 10/24 • Lost 13% on 10/28 • Lost 12% on 10/29 • Stock Market did not recover until 1947
Economy sent reeling • Unemployment rate soared • Consumer sales plummeted • Evictions mounted
Official Reaction Limited • Mellon advised to let the economy liquidate • The Crash drove out the bad • Would lead to limited difficulty • Economy would emerge healthier • “Prosperity just around the corner” • However prices continued to fall!
Banking Crisis • Banks began to fail in the fall of 1930 • Farmers defaulted on loans • Rippled throughout the economy • Runs on banks
Mounting Discontent • Millions unemployed • Homelessness grew drastically • Formation of “Hoovervilles” • “Bonus Army” debacle
Volunteerism • Hoover was slow to act • Promoted “Volunteerism” • Convince people to cooperate, not coerce • Keep employment levels up • Refuse to seek raises • Did not work
Additional Steps • Promoted higher tariffs (Smoot-Hawley) • Mexican repatriation • Reconstruction Finance Corporation • Federal Home Loan Bank Act • Too little, too late