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Comparing Depressions…Is there really any Comparison?
By: Malcolm H. Scott
“The Great Depression was, no doubt, depressing”
I thought I’d compile a few paragraphs to give us a glimpse of the past as the majority of us weren’t around back then. Thank God, because it sure wasn’t much fun.
As it turns out the Stock Market Crash of 1929 didn’t create the Great Depression,
it was just perhaps the last tick of the bomb that imploded the whole market and world economy. The SEC, The Security and Exchange Commission had not been created yet and the practices in the 20’s were operating in a rather less-than-ethical space. New Companies like General Motors, seemed to be making everyone rich, operators like Joseph Kennedy, (and a slew of others) were notorious for making the big bucks in questionable practices. Investment scams that inflated values of stocks ( that were eventually dumped by the scammers) and consequently, left the investor pools holding the proverbial bag. These were the scams of the day.
Ivar Krueger was notoriously one of the best con men of the day. Known as the “Swedish Match King” as it turns out, his whole empire was founded on deception. Issuing worthless securities and counterfeiting Italian government bonds were some of his scams. Another king of unscrupulous behavior was Samuel Insull a claimed self-made millionaire who lulled working class investors into his public utilities empire.
Just prior to the depression unemployment was already very high.
Housing starts were way down in 1927 and the new mechanized factories were laying lower level workers off by the thousands. Warehouses filled up with supplies and the demand suddenly slipped because people just could not keep up with the increasing supplies manufacturers were now producing. To further complicate the situation people were taking their life savings, and like lemmings were rushing off into half-cocked investments with the hope of getting rich. Investment firms offered massive amounts of credit as it only took 20% in actual cash to obtain credit. Banks joined the fun as well and loaned millions to speculation and quesationable schemes. Enormous debt had been established and the wealth was all on paper.
In 1928 Hoover made a speech making a bold statement to eliminate poverty.
By September of 1929 the market had reached it’s peak. Although, a closer examination proved steel and automobile production in steep decline. Steel and automobiles were the centerpieces of the American economy. Like animals that sense a earthquake before it happens, startled European investors started to withdraw their investments in the US market. The free-fall had begun. Brokers called investors to pay off the debt they had leveraged. As a result they quickly sold stock to pay their debt. This brought more fear as stock prices plummeted and the demise expanded exponentially as the vicious cycle ensued. By Black Tuesday October 24, 13 million shares were sold off. J.P. Morgan Jr. tried to offset the the fall with a pool of bankers and money to fluff up consumer confidence -but this too failed. By the following Tuesday another 16 million shares were sold off and within a few days the wealth of a country, which was built on inflated stock prices simply vanished before every one’s eyes!
In one year alone, 1300 banks failed.
Obviously there was no FDI insurance back then so when your bank went down, so did everything you had with it! Within three years or so 5,000 banks had closed. Speculative investments and the bad mortgages were the culprits behind the failures. This created more trouble as there were very few banks to extend credit and capital to people and businesses. Ford laid off 75,000 workers, and Ivar Krueger and Samuel Insull’s empires came crashing down.
In prior domestic depressions the American people were able to shake them off.
Prior to America’s mechanization people lived on farms and were able to produce, for the most part, what they needed to survive. But now through technology, America had revolutionized it’s economy, and, the worlds. This newly urbanized and mechanized America suddenly had millions of workers unemployed. Record keeping was obviously less accurate back in the day, but official estimates put unemployment at 25%. Most historians scoff at those figures and claim that 40 to 50% of the available workers were out of work!
Just to keep it in perspective we’re presently (at the time of this writing) enjoying 7% unemployment.
Hoover really couldn’t do a thing to right the ship
whatever he did it was either wrong or done too late. “Hoovervilles”, communities of cardboard shacks were in all of America’s largest cities. Hundreds of thousands were without hope, homeless and in a depressing state of despair. Hoover in 1932 created the RFC, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. This functioned solely to loan money to the railroads and banks. This wasn’t accepted very well as it was another example of his willingness to aide Corporations and ignore the poor. Hoover was staunchly opposed to assist the starving populace with direct aid. He felt that was something the socialists would do- he was diametrically opposed. He preferred ”rugged individualism.”
It appeared to many Americans that Hoover just didn’t care about the millions out there starving, homeless and out of work.
In 1932 the depression perhaps peaked. And, the pain was felt across the land, although, in the White House Hoover kept up an image he felt would be good for ‘moral’ and had white gloved servants serving them multi-course meals.
In perhaps one of the more inhumane incidents that is preserved in the Great Depressions history was the “dough boys and the Bonus Army’s march on Washington.” The populace was at a breaking point and a group of former World War I infantrymen though it be a good idea to let Washington see the reality for themselves. The “dough boys” complete with families, journeyed any way they could to the Capital. They were a vagrant Army of sorts. They occupied buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue and set up encampments. They had all reached the end of their line, destitute, out of work and with no hope. These veterans were guaranteed a bonus and they came calling on it now. They coined themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force. Rather then meet with the leaders of the movement Hoover decided to call out the troops, which were commanded by none other then Douglas MacArthur. The third cavalry led the assault and moved in on the “bonus Army”. Major George Patton commanded the operation. Innocent bystanders mixed in with the former soldiers were attacked with tear gas, tanks and bayonets. After nightfall the tanks rolled over the encampment and then it was torched and burned down. In the aftermath there were more then one hundred casualties and including two babies that died from suffocation from the tear gas.
Not long after that Hoover lost the election to Roosevelt and things began a slow mend. Eleanor Roosevelt met with the Bonus Army, mingled and talked with them. While Hoover will be remembered for sending the army in, Roosevelt was remember for sending his wife.
During these trying economic times we are experiencing today, right now, I couldn’t help but reflect back in history to the great Depression to get a glimpse of just how bad it was. It was bad, real bad. Based on what I have read there are many similarities. One wonders if the administration has reflected back on the depression to better understand what we and the world are dealing with now. Let’s hope we are turning the corner in the United States and will see a transition over the next twelve months or so. While I’m an optimist at heart, I still believe we have a long way to go. The foundation has been shaken and we need to strengthen it before we can totally rebuild.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28698830
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28917922/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/davos/7859179.stm
http://www.dontknowmuch.com/kids/about.html
Sources:
Don’t Know Much About History
By: Kenneth C. Davis ISBN 0-380-71252-0
Copyright 1990 Avon Books
a division of the Hearst Corporation
1350 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10019
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