Life during the Great Depression was a living hell. Those individuals hardest hit by the economic uproar were the farmers. The lengths to which the American people were pushed to in order to survive were unnatural and gruesome, even for a third-world country. "In 1931, Cameroon, in West Africa, sends New York a check for $3.77 to help the starving" (Allen 58). The desperation that people in the U.S. experienced while trying to survive during the Great Depression contributed to the loss of innocence of this great nation. The Great Depression was possibly the worst and most traumatizing time in our nation's history, but the lessons learned will not be forgotten.
The Great Depression was caused by more than the infamous stock market crash of 1929. The monetary society had become too lax with giving credit. Banks were lending money that they did not have. As people lost faith in the economy, they reduced their unnecessary spending. This lead to a chain reaction of stores and factories laying off employees because of a lack of demand of their products. These layoffs led to more people with less money who would certainly not buy any unnecessary products; they could barley afford necessities. This in turn led to more layoffs, pay cuts, reduces hours, and the like. These layoffs continued to perpetuate the continuing downward spiral of consumers buying less and less, and companies laying off workers (Unger 724). The unemployment rate eventually reached an unprecedented 25% (Watkins 55). The Unites States of America's economic problems were so crippling that many of the factory workers who came over from Europe went back home. There was worldwide recession, but America was hit hardest. Everyone was effected.
Life was a struggle once a worker was laid off. Families lived on savings while frantically looking for work, but with so many unemployed, jobs were hard to come by. Competition for jobs was even tougher.