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The Ups & Downs
This is a timeline that will show certain events about the 1920s-1930s in the US. What we went through and what happened to us through those years. -
Federal Spending grows three times larger than tax collections
When the government cuts back spending to balance the budget in 1920, a severe recession results. However, the war economy invested heavily in the manufacturing sector, and the next decade will see an explosion of productivity... although only for certain sectors of the economy. -
Farmlands
The value of farmland falls 30 to 40 percent between 1920 and 1929. -
Supreme Court Strikings
The conservative Supreme Court strikes down federal child labor legislation -
Worker Productivity
Individual worker productivity rises an astonishing 43 percent from 1919 to 1929. -
Rewards are being funneled to the top
the number of people reporting half-million dollar incomes grows from 156 to 1,489 between 1920 and 1929, a phenomenal rise compared to other decades. But that is still less than 1 percent of all income-earners. -
New President, New Comings
President Warren Harding dies in office. Calvin Coolidge, becomes president. Coolidge is no less committed to laissez-faire and a non-interventionist government. -
Stock Market Rising
The stock market begins its spectacular rise. Bears little relation to the rest of the economy. -
Supreme Court
Supreme Court nullifies minimum wage for women in District of Columbia. -
Tax Rate
The top tax rate is lowered to 25 percent - the lowest top rate in the eight decades since World War I. -
Supreme Court
Supreme Court rules that trade organizations do not violate anti-trust laws as long as some competition survives. -
Farmers' Sharing
Farmers' share of the national income has dropped from 15 to 9 percent since 1920. -
Stock Risings
Between May 1928 and September 1929, the average prices of stocks will rise 40 percent. Trading will mushroom from 2-3 million shares per day to over 5 million. The boom is largely artificial. -
Automobile Sales Declining
Automobile sales decline by a third in the nine months before the crash. Construction down $2 billion since 1926. -
Herbet Hoover and America
Herbert Hoover becomes President. Hoover is a staunch individualist but not as committed to laissez-faire ideology as Coolidge.
More than half of all Americans are living below a minimum subsistence level. -
Before the Stock Crash
Recession begins in August, two months before the stock market crash. During this two month period, production will decline at an annual rate of 20 percent, wholesale prices at 7.5 percent, and personal income at 5 percent. -
Stock Market Crash
Stock market crash begins October 24. Investors call October 29 "Black Tuesday." Losses for the month will total $16 billion, an astronomical sum in those days. -
Unemployment Rate
The GNP falls 9.4 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7 percent. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff passes on June 17. With imports forming only 6 percent of the GNP, the 40 percent tariffs work out to an effective tax of only 2.4 percent per citizen. Even this is compensated for by the fact that American businesses are no longer investing in Europe, but keeping their money stateside. The consensus of modern economists is that the tariff made only a minor contribution to the Great Depression in the U.S., but a major one in Europe.