This report covers the period of economic hardship in the 1930s. The Great Depression is a time when spending by the people of the United States and the government was out of control. You will learn that the Great Depression did not happen overnight, but built up over a period of time. It is a common misconception that the stock market crash of October 1929 was called the Great Depression. They are closely related but both are the result of the modern economy. People spent more money than they earned. Banks played a role in the Great Depression because they were willing to lend money to people who couldn't repay the loan. Then the United States is coming out of the Roaring Twenties and people were living well, also the United States is coming out of World War I and times were good. The whole country is focused on getting rich quick while enjoying the new fashion of life, invention and new ideas. The old way of doing things was being replaced by the city-oriented Jazz Age. An example of this influence is women's wearing of short skirts, wearing makeup, smoking, and drinking. People also developed self-centered attitudes that helped during the Roaring Twenties but were beginning to affect the economy. Modern industry had the capacity to produce large quantities of products, but this created a big problem because the demand for these goods began to decline and there was a surplus of goods that merchants had to sell without profits. There was an economic problem and that was that income was not distributed equally to everyone. The amount of money going to the very rich increased as the decade progressed. To the factors that caused this problem. First, the company showed a noticeable increase in productivity, but the workers received a small percentage of the profit. At the same time there was a tax cut for the rich, but for the lower incomes there was no change and workers' production was increased by 32%, but workers' wages increased by only 8%. Corporate profits grew 65% over the same time period, and the government let the wealthy keep a larger share of the profits. The Revenue Act of 1926 reduced the taxes of people earning a million or more by two-thirds. As a result of this trend, the top 0.1% of A... middle of paper... will be the present. Then Franklin D. Roosevelt won the election and was now president. A few days after the inauguration, Roosevelt called Congress into a special session so he could pass emergency legislation to help the country. The first piece of legislation was to declare a bank holiday so that the government could intervene and reform the banking system. Then there was the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, under which the government paid farmers not to grow surplus crops. Then the national industrial recovery law which helped regulate the completion of industries. The Tennessee Valley Authority was created to give everyone the power to improve lives. END OF THE DEPRESSION The depression did not end overnight but with the new laws in place the economy began to adapt and the country began to reform. Then World War II began and the United States began building warships and expanding its military. Because of this decision the unemployment rate dropped rapidly. When war broke out in 1941, the entire economy came together to support the war. Back then the problem was a shortage of workers, rather than insufficient jobs.