The Great Depression was a horrible bump in the road for the development of Canada. It started on October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday, when the stock market crashed. There were many other factors that caused the Depression during that time, but the stock market crash was one of the main factors. Over the next decade, over nine thousand banks failed and were not able to give people their savings back. The banks that survived were very hesitant to give people loans. Because of the economic downfall, people started buying fewer things, so it created a domino effect.
The current recession started sometime in late 2008 to early 2009. Many economists were predicting the recession, because the U.S. was spending more than they were making. American citizens took out loans for houses, but couldn’t pay them off. The government was funding their army in the Middle East with taxpayers’ money. Overall, the country was in trouble. To top that off, the stock markets crashed once again. Canada wasn’t as bad as the U.S., but they are our neighbors and Canada fell along side with them. Eventually the whole world got dragged into the recession.
During our current recession, the government has been trying to do as much as they can. They have been making more of an effort now, compared to the Depression of the 1930s. The Canadian Government came up with the Economic Action Plan. Their goal was to increase our economy or GDP. First, Canada’s government wanted to build their economy and create more jobs. They did this by investing in Canada’s infrastructure (ie. Roads, buildings, bridges, etc.). There were many other efforts to increase Canada’s GDP (Click here if you want to see the Governments other efforts). I think these attempts were successful, because they wanted to create jobs, and they did. Once more jobs were created, and then the economy started to flow, because people had money to spend. When people spend money, the economy will benefit from it. In my opinion, the government has been successful.
Now days, we have computers, online banking, and other technology, which we use in our everyday lives. In the 1930s, they didn’t have some of the technology we have today. Computers and television play a huge part in our lives. They influence the things we do. During the Great Depression, we would have to go to the bank to check your accounts and check the stock markets, but now you can do it instantly at home.
The Great Depression and our current recession were not good for the United States’ GDP. Near the beginning of the Great Depression, the U.S.’s GDP dropped dramatically, but as the decade went by, their GDP started to slowly rise again. During our current recession, the United States’ GDP didn’t drop as dramatically as the Great Depression, but it still dropped. Currently, the U.S. is slowly recovering, but it takes time.
In my opinion, the Great Depression made more of an impact on the world, because more people and companies were affected. We learn about how the Great Depression affected our country in social studies class, but our current recession we don’t talk much about it. During the Great Depression, families lived on barely anything. Many lost their homes or got a small amount of money for them, but it wasn’t enough to do anything. Right now, most families didn’t have to give up their homes, or starve, but families are just being a little bit thrifty. We learnt from the Great Depression, because banks don’t just give loans out to anyone now. In the 30s, just about anyone could get a loan, but then it was one of the factors that cause the Depression. To conclude, I think that the Great Depression has made more of an impact on the world, compared to our current recession.
Bibliography/Work Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#Canada
Bibliography/Work Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#Canada
http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-conditions-recession/13341460-1.html
http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-conditions-recession/13341460-1.html
http://useconomy.about.com/od/economicindicators/a/GDP-statistics.htm
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