Was There Any Way The Great Depression Could Have Been Avoided?

I’m back yet again, with another amazing blog post… well amazing is a big word, how about moderate. Ya that seems more like it, okay lets try that again. I’m back yet again, with another moderate blog post. Okay, thats more like it.  Dang I really need to start getting my work in on time….

For this blog post were were asked to write an inquiry question about what we are learning in class. The Roaring 20’s to Great Depression, or anything in-between. I actually am finding this unit quite interesting for once… did I just say that out loud… I mean, I…love…every…unit…! Okay anyways, back to my question finding process. Throughout learning about the Great Depression, in the back of my mind I was wondering if the Great Depression was avoidable or if it was just bound to happen. So that is what I formed my question around and came out with this as my inquiry question. Was there any way that the Great Depression could have been avoided?

After doing some research I found that most people said, “Yes, the Great Depression could have been avoided”, if only the government could have looked into the future a bit and seen what was coming.

Here is what I think…

So I technically yes, the Great depression could have been avoided, firstly overproduction. Factories and farms were producing more goods than the people could afford to buy. The problem with over production was that no one was looking forward for what was to come. They were on such a high with the amount of products they were selling (washing machines, dish washers, cars, wheat, meat and other farm goods) no one noticed that they were making extensive amounts. Is was getting easier and easier to produce products because assembly line production, and stock market prices were high. World War I had just ended, people were happy, businesses were doing fantastic, the stock market was at an all time high, there was no reasons  to start worrying about what was to come.  As a result, prices fell, factories closed and workers were laid off.  Prices for farm products also fell, as a result, farmers could not pay off bank loans and many lost their farms due to foreclosure.

Secondly, buying on credit…1920’s motto was “buy now, pay later”, first mistake because most people couldn’t afford to pay later. Buying on credit was a new concept, and not everyone understood it. Almost all people didn’t own the majority of things they had, resulting in Canada falling helplessly into debt. Then creditors repossessed goods and left some with nothing. Buying on credit should have only been available to people who have a well paying job and know how a fact that they will be able to pay the money back.

Thirdly, the stock market crash, also known as “Black Tuesday”. Too many people were getting loans to buy shares (buying on margin), so when the stock market prices went down, people couldn’t pay back their loans… This caused people to sell shares. The government needed to stop the bubble in stock prices from happening.  They could have outlawed (or at least regulated) the margin buying and some of the other abuses that were pushing up stock prices.

Overall the Great Depression was a terrible period of time, that defiantly could have been avoided if anyone were looking into what was to come. Of course, it’s pretty hard to expect them to have seen all of that stuff ahead of time, events like the great depression do take a lot of time in the making. The buildup, trigger, and expansion of the Great Depression played out over more than a decade through at least four presidents:  Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.  Also I don’t, however, think mankind is yet equipped, and may never be equipped, to create a society, and an economy where bad things like the Great Depression never happen.