HST 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Stock Market, Government Failure, Reconstruction Finance Corporation
19 Mar 2017
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Hyper consumption as a hallmark of american society. Economy"s dependence on a few basic industries (auto) and overproduction in those industries. Unequal distribution of wealth: top 5% of americans owned 32. 4% of the nation"s wealth. By 1929: of american families lived on the edge of or below the minimum subsistence level: a year per family. Unstable banking system leads to a series of bank failures and a contraction of credit (banks call in loans, won"t make new loans) Stock market weakened by insider trade (shady stocks and fraud) Government failure to regulate banking, stock market, and big businesses (republican ignorance) *by 1933: of america"s 13 million workers were employed. The depression increases opposition to women"s wage earning, yet female wage earning. The depression and women increases by 25% during this time: female jobs (clerical, sales, service) are more depression-proof" than men"s jobs in industry, women"s economic opportunities increase during this time due to gender segregation in the labor market.
