The Great Depression – A Short Chronology
The 20th century is marked by the development of the Great Depression, a severe economic crisis that struck the world during the decade preceding World War II. While it is true that the crisis we have been experiencing had important effects on the worldwide economy, the Great Depression is known to be the most widespread and the deepest depression of the 20th century. The elements which led to this situation are numerous, but they must be deciphered in order to avoid another situation like that.
The first to be hit by the depression were the United States, during the 1920s. the event which marked the beginning of the Great Depression is the stock market crash on the 29th of October in 1929, which led to the bankruptcy of several banks and businesses. One cause of this event is that the cost of the First World War was too high and governments had to cut spending in order to deal with all the spending. They were however indebted and deflation also occurred, and the measures taken by world leaders did not manage to improve the situation. In order to try and help their national industries and economies, governments cut interest rates and raised the tariffs on imported goods. Bad choice…
The crisis became hardly controllable and consequently, many banks, small firms and factories were closed. People were left without jobs and houses and living turned out to be more and more difficult. Investors were also affected: they lost a lot of money and the GNP severely fell. New types of governments occurred: it is the time when Adolf Hitler’s power increased and many conflicts arouse. One of them is between China and Japan, which decided to invade the first in order to open mines in Manchuria and develop its industry. It seemed to be a dead end situation, which eventually led to the II World War.
One result of the closing of businesses and the loss of money was deflation, the counterpart of hyperinflation. When deflation occurs, the real value of a national currency increases and more products can be bought with the same amount of money. Thus, prices fall, but consumers are tempted to postpone the purchase process. In the same time, investors prefer to keep their money rather than invest it and hence a liquidity trap is produced. During the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve reduced the money supply and contributed to deflation.
Franklin Roosevelt managed in the US to reduce the effects of the Great Depression, but the recent economic crisis proved that we are still sensitive and vulnerable. In order to avoid future economic recessions, or times of upheaval, many investors prefer investing in gold rather than currencies, for gold is a safer and more stable currency, which is hardly affected by drops in the value of national currencies.
Investment in gold is the safest and in order to Buy Gold, the easiest option is to purchase coins and bars.





February 27, 2011
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Posted by Jack Wogan
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