Have you ever been depressed? When one thinks of The Great Depression, they would think of millions of people depressed. In fact, according to the MacMillan Dictionary, The Great Depression was a period marked by a severe reduction in business activity, rise in unemployment and falling wages and prices that lasted from 1929 to 1939. The K.H.S. history book by McDougal Littell agrees with this definition of the Great Depression by stating that there were countless causes to this great event that grasped the entire world.
WWI took its toll on the American citizens with war debts and manual labor. John F. Wukovits writes, "People wanted to forget the suffering and devastation of WWI and return to a normal life. Part of that desire manifested itself in people buying stocks to get rich quick". Even ten years before the depression, its clutches commenced to take over the American society. But probably the most crucial cause of the Great Depression was the substantial unequal distribution of wealth. Only a tiny percentage of the American population controlled the wealth. Prominent businessmen repeatedly borrowed money to purchase more stocks with the intention of paying back the loan from the profits of the stock they bough
Personal, corporate and government debt is now at record levels.
Many countries around the world are simultaneously in an economic decline.
Bankruptcies and payment delinquencies are at record levels.
Protectionism and the application of tariffs on imports is increasing. It was a trade war that exacerbated the downturn in the 1930's.
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