1920 S 1920 S ECONOMY THE RISE

1920 S

1920 S ECONOMY: THE RISE Per capita income: up 33 % Manufacturing Production: up 60% Agricultural Production: up Stock Market: up and then way up Employment: high Cost of living: stable

1920 S ECONOMY: THE FALL WHY? Economy is too concentrated on sales of automobiles and new consumer products Consumer demand for new products tapers off § Most people have bought by the end of the decade Uneven distribution of wealth: not everybody can buy products § Credit to buy helps for a time: but then debt

THE FALL CONTINUED Stock Market rise was too high Overconfidence in continued upward trends Buying stock on margin § Bank loans for stocks were risky and failed International Debt Structure US loans and investments to Germany (from Dawes Plan 1924) Germany payments to GB and France (WWI reparations) GB and France pay off debts to US When US $$ stops flowing to Germany, the whole circle stops Tariffs and reverse tariffs cuts trade Agricultural struggled throughout 20 s An important sector of US economy

DOWNWARD SPIRAL: Fears and contraction of the economy leads to more of the same § § Lack of production Unemployment Lack of spending Bank failures

2000 S ECONOMY: THE RISE Home prices Employment: high Incomes: growing Stocks: good and mixed

2000 S ECONOMY: CAUSES FOR THE FALL

WHAT WENT WRONG? Want to understand what's gone wrong with the economy? Here's a good link: http: //www. npr. org/templates/story. php? story. Id=9032 7686.

STOCK MARKET RECENT HISTORY http: //marketplace. publicradio. org/display/web/2010/10/04 /am-lessons-from-stock-markets-last-three-years/ http: //www. nytimes. com/aponline/2011/10/09/business/APUS-Wall-Street-Week. Ahead. html? _r=1&scp=1&sq=stock+market&st=nyt http: //www. nytimes. com/2011/09/12/business/economy/st ock-markets-sharp-swings-grow-morefrequent. html? scp=5&sq=stock%20 market&st=cse

RECOVERY ATTEMPTS THEN AND NOW Similarities: Gov’t spending on jobs and to help states Help for Banks Greater regulations: § Banks § Stock Market trading Differences: Fewer direct gov’t jobs Less unity in pursuing a policy direction: President and Dems not as powerful. Economy not as bad so far (compare unemployment rates) Regulation was minimal and now being fought

CURRENT UNEMPLOYMENT http: //www. google. com/publicdata? ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&tdim =true&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate The textbook’s claim that in 1920 unemployment was 20% seems very unlikely! From the Economic History Association (Gene Smiley, Marquette University) http: //eh. net/encyclopedia/article/smiley. 1920 s. final “With the depression of 1920 -1921 the unemployment rate rose rapidly from 5. 2 to 8. 7 percent. The recovery reduced unemployment to an average rate of 4. 8 percent in 1923. The unemployment rate rose to 5. 8 percent in the recession of 1924 and to 5. 0 percent with the slowdown in 1927. Otherwise unemployment remained relatively low. The onset of the Great Depression from the summer of 1929 on brought the unemployment rate from 4. 6 percent in 1929 to 8. 9 percent in 1930. ”

THE CHARLESTON Al Minns and Leon James doing the Charleston http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=s 58 i. Tzznkp 0&feature=rela ted Set to Daft Punk: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=339 ix. Mt. Hr. Vk&feature=rela ted Finalists in a 2006 contest http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=WSm. Y 6 zmnc. VM&feature=rel ated An original Washboard Wiggles: the song behind the contest above: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=IS-jcm 07 u 5 g How to dance the Charleston: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=JLVyv 8 Np 8 E&feature=related

JAZZ AND THE BLUES Louis Armstrong Bessie Smith Duke Ellington Jelly Roll Morton Ma Rainey

FADS AND ADS Marathon dancing: what was the record? § 119 days!

NATIVISM AND IMMIGRATION Immigration Reform Act of 1924: § Restricted immigration § Favored Western and Northern Europeans § Seen as more American-like § Earlier Immigrants, so had a history Numbers: http: //www. civicsonline. org/library/formatted/texts/immigration 1924. htm

HARLEM RENA IS SA NC E Langston Hughes The Weary Blues: http: //cai. ucdav is. edu/uccp/wor kingweary. html Bio and more poems: http: //www. poet s. org/poet. php/ prm. PID/83

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES: HALF NOW LIVE IN CITIES

MORE ON THE 1920 S See 1920 s worksheet passed out in class (or online) Check out other links too Film: The Twenties (a segment in the series: Bill Moyers’ A Walk Through the 20 t h Century) on reserve in the library (VHS)