in-class #30: Causes of the Great Depression
Read chapter 17, section 2 only ("A Growing Economy") pages 596-603 and answer the questions below:
1. How were U.S. Steel and Ford Motor Company able to afford cutting work hours for their employeees while at the same time increasing their pay during the 1920s?
2. How did the automobile industry help other industries grow (give some examples)?
3. What was the social impact of the automobile on American life?
4. New types of consumer products flooded the market in response to the new technologies and rising disposable income for workers. What is disposable income?
5. What was the impact on life in the 20s of easy consumer credit?
6. Why did unions decline on the 20s?
7. What factors led to the growing economic crisis in farming during the 1920s?
8. How does the graph on page 602 ("Annual Earning, 1920-1930") illustrate why farmers were abandoning farms for the cities?
AND
READ CHAPTER 18, SECTION 1 ONLY ("THE CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION") ON PAGES 628-633 AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW:
1. In the stock market, what is a bull market?
2. What is buying stock on margin? Why can this cause problems?
3. What is a margin call? What effect would large numbers of margin calls have on the price of stock? Why?
4. What is a bank run? What set off the bank runs after the stock market crash in 1929?
5. Using the visual on page 632, list the 6 causes of the Great Depression.