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Great Depression Causes

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The Great Depression occurred in a time period when America’s economy was just beginning to form. There were many different causes that lead to the Great Depression such as a new industry for American consumer products, consumerism and consumer credit, and the stock market crash. These three occurrences simultaneously caused the economy to completely spiral out of control. The first of these three, which is the new industry for American consumer products, began in the 1900’s. Henry Ford was the owner and founder of the Ford car dealer ship, and in 1908 he created a car called the Model T. This car was bought by 15 million Americans in hind sight this is a good thing for Henry Ford but what we didn’t know at the time was that this would eventually …show more content…

This time period is called The Roaring 20’s, because America’s economy was flourishing and it caused a rise of a consumer culture. This consumer culture was obsessed with buying products even though they did not have the financial backing to purchase the products. This was considered the 1920’s spending spree of America. They would simply buy now and pay later with retail credit; they would also supplement wages with credit. By 1919 $100 million was put on credit, and by 1929 $7 billion was put on credit. This nonsensical purchasing was onset by mass marketing, which caused American’s to be influenced by catalogs and radio …show more content…

There were natural calamities that also aggravated the Great Depression. From 1932-1940 there were extended droughts in the Great Plains region, which lead to soil erosion causing the Dust Bowl. The Great Plains consisted of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. These regions were known for their rural environment that was perfect for farming. The soil erosion caused a thick dust that made impossible living conditions for the people of this region forcing them to flee from their homes. These dusts completely blacken the sky causing what they called Black Blizzards eventually these blizzards began to reach the east coast. Because most of the farmland was destroyed and large amounts of dust were in the air eventually people developed malnutrition and pneumonia. This Dust Bowl was so Sevier that it even affected the African continent and Latin America causing locust plagues and

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