Great Depression vs. Great Recession

         The Great Depression and Great Recession are both very pivotal times in our nation's history. However, these two events carry many similarities and differences. For example, there were many events leading up to the Great Depression in the months and years prior to the actual event. One event that led up to this was the end of WWI. This led to more soldiers coming home, and there were less industrial jobs needed for things such as making bullets or weapons. This was one of the major events leading up to the Great Depression. Also, in the agricultural realm, there was a lot of change happening. During the year 1929, farmers were experiencing a drought, and on top of the food prices that were already failing, agricultural sales plummeted. Not only were the agricultural sales falling, but all sales were, and the reason for this was that there was simply not enough money for people to buy things with. This lead to an overproduction in most products, which lowered the value of them greatly. Even with lower prices, however, people were still not able to purchase any of these goods because there were not many sources of income for families. However, this lack of jobs did not only affect families, they also affected the GDP. The GDP decreased by half in a matter of 4 years, and it went from $103.6 billion to $56.4 billion in the year 1933. 

      Unfortunately, the Great Depression was not the U.S only economic crisis. In the years from 2007 to 2009, the United States fell into a Great Recession. Luckily, since the country had the ability to learn from its past mistakes, the Recession this time was not as bad. However, America did face similar issues in comparison to the Great Depression. One of these was lack of jobs. Nearly 30% of jobs were lost, and as a result there was less consumer spending. With so many jobs no longer there as an option, the economy took a longer time to recover. In both cases, the government was able to help make certain reforms to help better the economy. In the Depression, there was the New Deal which helped shape organizations to fix certain economical issues, such as the AAA which helped curve the surplus of crops, and in the recession, there was the TARP organization that helped with economic issues. In all, both economic crises were detrimental to the United States at the time, but luckily there have been laws and policies put in place to stop these from happening again.