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Depression And Depression : The Causes Of The Great Depression

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When most people hear the phrase “The Great Depression” they only associate it the crash of the stock market and the hard times that followed. Here in the Midwest, when we think of the Great Depression we also think of the Dust Bowl and the Dirty Thirties. The Great Depression was a very climactic end to a series of poor choices that greatly affected the entire United States.
During the “Roaring Twenties” in the United States, the stock market had never been better. When vice president Calvin Coolidge took the reins in 1923, business soared. Factories were turning to Henry Ford’s model of the assembly line to drastically increase product output, and many companies in America were becoming multinational, (Foner, 615), such as General Electric and International Business Machines (IBM), who bought out other companies in war torn Europe. Unlike in past years, Americans were focused on having a good time. They were taking their families on vacations across the country or out to sporting events. With the majority of the United States out enjoying the booming economy and all the luxuries that accompany it, no one was paying attention to the signs of trouble on the horizon. All of their reckless choices and decisions were leading to a major downfall. During the Roaring Twenties, the people skyrocketed the American debt.
Monopolies were on the rise, with the assembly line raising production rates, Ford and Chrysler were able to out-produce their competition, essentially forcing them

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