Great Depression versus the Current Recession

Great Depression versus the Current Recession

1.       How did the Great Depression start?

The great depression originated in the united states in 1929, the stock market crashing was a big part of the depression, because in the 1920’s people had a lot of money from working in the war so they invested in the stock market when the stock market crashed they lost all their money, so people started to get scared and tried to sell their stocks, but  no one was buying, also the banks had invested their clients savings and when market crashed , they had to close and when more and more banks closed people started to panic.

2.       How did the Current Recession start?

The current recession started in 2008 in the United States due to the fact that banks started to lend sub-prime mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them which forced them into bankruptcy. Soon after the bank would take their property into foreclosure, this caused a collapse in the housing market, this made big companies and the government bailout banks. Also this incident had scared everyone and they have started to withdraw their money from the banks and sell their assets.    

3.       How did the government take part following the event?  Where are they successful attempts?

The governments were trying to help the world get out of recession but all their plans seemed to fail. US had a new president; Roosevelt closed all the banks and only let them reopen once they were stabilized. Roosevelt started to establish programs that became known as the New Deal. The new deal was to help the farmers and agriculture, but also to help unemployment. It’s uncertain if the new deal actually helped us get out of recession but to the citizens of the US Roosevelt was a hero.   In the current recession government has made stimulant projects the like Canadian economic action plan. Canada is trying to create more jobs for its citizens, in my opinion I think the government is doing a better job in this recession than the great depression because a lot more people were homeless and people have even started looting for money and food stealing for food, but in this recession though people don’t have a lot of money they are still some how making it and are still getting food and shelter.

4.       What factors are present now that were not present during the Great Depression?  Ex banking, online resources, etc.

They are a lot of new technologies now than the time period of the great depression. We have online banking which can be a great thing or a very bad thing because all of our information is on the computers and if the commuter are down or is the memory is lost all of or information will be two, in the other had computers make our lives easier and if we need to find out something its easier to search up in the computer. Also a new thing that was not discovered in the 1900 was credit cards. Credit cards are a big part of our lives now pretty much everything we buy is on a credit card, this is becoming a problem for the people who can not pay off the debt and need to go into bankruptcy. 

5.       How did these two affect United States’ GDP?

Each recession affected the United States gross domestic product, in the great depression the untied states were giving loans to other countries especially Germany, in the 1920 the untied states were at the top with 1 billion dollars in their gross domestic products. But when there soldiers came back from the war and there stock market crashing they lost a lot of gross domestic product. Though they lost a lot of GDP they were still one of the countries with the highest GDP. In the current recession the GDP of the United States have gone down but not as much as when the great depression. the united states and the world has learned from the great depression so if another depression happens it will not hurt a country as bad and the countries GDP will still be good.

6.       Reflection: In your own words, tell me which one has made more of an impact on the word.

In my opinion I think that the great depression made more of an impact on the world because, none had ever experienced a recession this bad and the government and the people didn’t know what to do to make this situation better. The great depression turned into a learning experience on how to handle such a big issue. With technology this recession was not as bad the government had taken control and tried to stimulate the economy, like the Canadian action plan. In the great depression you herd stories like people had to fight for food and people going from one city to another just to find work or food. So I believe that the great depression had a bigger impact on the world.

http://wanttoknowit.com/when-did-the-great-depression-start-and-end/

http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/recession-its-causes-effects-680290.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/p/greatdepression.htm  

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm

One BC's most successful exports is a business model

SOURCE:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/From+humble+beginnings+Ritchie+Bros+create+global+empire/4583105/story.html

SUMMARY:

This article talks about the Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, which is a company that auctions big heavy machinery. Before becoming Auctioneers they were a furniture store. They started this company here is British Columbia which was very successful. Last year they opened a half-dozen auction houses in places ranging from Japan and Germany to St. Louis and Chilliwack unfazed by the global economic recession. That adds to existing sites in Dubai, Australia, India, Spain, Mexico and France. Net earnings for 2010 were $65.9 million down from $93.5 million in 2009 due to global economic recession. They are British Columbia’s biggest export companies

CONNECTION:
            In this article it talks about Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers and how they are one of the biggest auctioneers in British Columbia. How I connection this article and chapter 6 together is by aggregate demand. Both the article and chapter has aggregate demand. This company is one of the biggest export companies and export is a big part of aggregate demand which is the total demand for final goods and services in the economy at a given time and price level. Our goods are selling which will help pay for public services that the government pays for.
REFLECTION:
              Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers have done a very good job with their business and making it such a big company. They are helping Canada as one of the biggest exports British Columbia has. Though their products are elastic it is still a very strong company. They have a lot of competition but yet their company still seems to come at the top. Heavy duty machinery is sold everywhere but Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers have business confidence and always try to get new products. So I believe that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers a very good company and they are going to expand even more which will give us and even more export.