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"Why are we hungry, jobless, panic stricken, in
the richest country on earth? Why are banks closed,
factories shut down, office buildings empty, homes
in foreclosure, and cities bankrupt in a land of plenty?
All that is clear is that those in power are unable
to understand, much less control, events."
Alfred Bingham, Common Sense, 1932, Great Depression #1
1932 was the low point of the Great Depression. It was the last year of
the Hoover Administration:
- Approx. US population: 54 million
- Unemployed (non-farm): approx. 25% unemployed with half the remainder dropped to part-time.
- Average Annual legal immigration: approx. 2 million. (Brimelow, Alien Nation, 1996, p42)
- But immigration had been declining from record levels during 1890-- 1920
- Immigration had been greatly restricted by the Immigration Control Act of 1921 because of a
short deep recession immediately following WWI.
- The Recession of 1920 -1921 is believed to have been due to returning soldiers unable to find
work and millions of workers having been let go from armaments factories, shipbuilding.
- The Immigration Control Act of 1924 further restricted immigration due to concerns about the
continuing downward impact of immigration on wages and jobs.
- All legal immigration was halted by President Hoover beginning in 1931
- Simultaneously there was a program to repatriate illegal immigrants living in the US.
- This program was halted under President Roosevelt; although border states were allowed
to return illegal immigrants directly to neigboring Mexican communities without federal
government involvement.
- Later, as a result of the US entering World War II labor shortages developed.
- Thus, in August 1942 the Braceros Program was started to bring back temporary
Mexican laborers into the US.
- A bonus ("bye out") was paid to Braceros who voluntarily relocated back to Mexico when
the program was terminated in 1946.
- Minimum wage: None
- Prices and wages were in a downward deflationary spiral.
- The dollar was on the gold standard.
- Municipal & state governments struggling with enormous deficits;
some municipal employees went for months without pay.
- Nominal workweek: 44 - 66 hours
- Child labor was allowed.
- System of private/municipal relief was collapsing: "wan children attending
schools without coats, shoes, or underclothes." (Schlesinger, Vol. 1, p. 250)
- Millions of men were on the move, hitchhiking, riding the rails;
sleeping in flophouses or hobo jungles seeking work of any kind, anywhere.
- 3500 banks had closed.
- Roosevelt was finishing up two terms as governor of the state of New York:
- Thus he was very knowledgeable about all the problems described above,
having dealt with them on the state level.
- The Great Florida Real Estate Boom had crashed in 1926.
- Possibly due to two hurricanes that hit Florida that year.
- 10% of residential housing was in foreclosure.
- Technically, the years 1929 and 1930 are considered to have been a deep Recession,
while the years 1931 and 1932 are considered to have been the first two
years of the Depression.
- We believe that 2009 is most like 1930, the year after the stock market crash.
- Our Currency was on the Gold Standard:
last updated 8/7/09; john@gd2.org.
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