American Consumer Opinion
I need your opinion on my idea for my history essay about the Great Depression??
the question asked is :
What were the three most significant weaknesses in the American economy in the 1920s? How did these weaknesses help contribute to the Great Depression?
My essay plan was to write the obvious intro talking about the depression and then I would state the three paragraphs that I want to write.
The body that I am writing is as follows
I: Consumers
II:Businesses
III: Inequality of Wealth and Income
conclusion
so really I need to know if my body would be relevant to the question. Were consumers,businesses, and the inequality of wealth and income the 3 most significant weaknesses?
You seem to be on the correct track. Here are some of the major causes of the Great Depression. You can find more information at the sites I have listed below.
1. Unequal distribution of wealth. There was not a large middle class. While wages were rising for the majority of workers, they were not keeping pace with the increase in the cost of living or the wealth in the hands of the industrialists and others in the upper income classes.
2. There was over speculation in the Stock Market, which was not regulated.
Many Americans purchased stock on credit. This was known as margin buying.
3. Increased manufacturing and agricultural output, but wages that did not keep pace for the consumers to purchase all that was produced or grown. Hence, inventories increased and agricultural income remained low.
4. Buying on credit, known in the 1920s as installment buying. People purchased things like refrigerators on time, and did not have money to pay for the product in the future, when the bills became due.
5. Federal regulations on businesses also contributed to the cause. Especially favorable to the large corporations were the taxes laws which were written
to encourage business expansion.
6. Banks were permitted to speculate in land and the stock market with little
government regulations.
7. High tariffs and war debts helped spread the depression world wide.