The Great Depression

Many historians and economists have argued the causes of the Great Depression since it began. Although many interpretations of its beginnings could be considered valid, I believe the Great Depression was a result of a combination of factors. The Federal Reserve Board definitely made an untimely decision by raising interest rates at a time when the economy needed more money flowing, not contraction. I think one of the most important factors was that American consumers had overextended themselves with utilizing options like buying on credit and with no new industries to buy products from, had no reason to spend more. This is similar to our most recent recession, but the Roosevelt and his New Deal program didn’t pump enough money into the economy to help it recover. Overall, I believe the snowball effect of these bad decisions and greed helped make a simple recession into the Great Depression.