can anybody explain what is the great depression?
hi!! This began in 1929 when people bought stocks with borrowed money, known as selling short. When the stock was called the price was due and people couldn't pay all they had borrowed. Panic set in and stock values plummeted because if people couldn't pay the debt, the stocks lost value. Debtors ran to banks which didn't have enough money to pay all depositors. The economy crashed. Without money, people couldn't regain the ability to do business, even farm. Goods were in short supply and tens of thousands of people lost jobs. In some areas of the country there were massive droughts, called the dust bowl. The new President Roosevelt tried all kinds of spending measures to stimulate the economy, with limited success. WW II perhaps provided the solution the nation needed. Even today there is a split between those who support deficit spending to create jobs and those who oppose this.
thx
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