Quote:
Originally Posted by CRAZY HORSE  The Democrats Caused The Depression In The Thirties Here Id Dodge, Too
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Oh no ....you didn't say that did you......
The "roaring twenties" was an era when our country prospered tremendously. The nation's total realized income rose from $74.3 billion in 1923 to $89 billion in 19291. However, the rewards of the "Coolidge Prosperity" of the 1920's were not shared evenly among all Americans.
Biography of Calvin Coolidge
So the three main factors contributing to the severity of the Great Depression were:
1. The over-stimulated economic euphoria of the 1920s.
2. The draconian monetary policy pursued by the Federal Reserve Bank from 1930-1933.
3. The sudden rise of global protectionism leading to the collapse of world trade. The dramatic rise of income taxes in 1932 may have also prolonged the downturn.
There were many other factors which made the human experience much worse than it had to be such as the lack of adequate social safety nets like Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Medicare, and Welfare programs. These programs were mostly implemented in response to the Great Depression and have well served the function of automatic economic stabilizers since. It is morbidly amusing to witness policy debate over such programs by politicians these days who have forgotten the depression. When times are good, those in need are seen as anomalous social groups and social programs become ill funded and pejorative. Perhaps it takes a Great Depression once in a while to remind us that we are all cut from the same cloth. It is just a matter of time.