Causes of the Great Depression

What is a bank deposit?

• When you give the bank your money for safe keeping.

• When you donate money to the bank because you have too much. 

• When you invest money in the stock market.

What is interest?

• The lollipops that the bank gives to smiling children. 

• The amount of money that the bank makes when they loan, or let people borrow, money.

• The amount of money that you give the bank.

Why couldn't people pay back their bank loans?

• They used their loans to move away.

• They were greedy and wanted to keep all the money.

• They thought the banks wouldn't notice when they didn't pay it back.

• They fell on hard times because the economy was bad.

What was the problem with the way that the banks were giving out loans?

• They were only letting rich people borrow money.

• The banks were loaning out too much of their money. 

• They were not letting enough people borrow money.

What happened when the banks could not pay back the money to their customers?

• The banks closed and the people who deposited money in the bank lost all of their money. 

• The rich people felt bad and gave the bank customers some of their money.

• The US government repaid the money that the bank customers lost. 

What is the word for more than is needed?

• surplus

• scarcity

• fun amounts

• subsistence amounts

Why were farmers having a hard time making money at the beginning of The Great Depression?

• They were growing too much food. Which made the price of the food they were growing too cheap to make money.

• They did not grow enough food, and people were starving. 

• They did not have the technology to grow food that tasted good.

What is a tariff?

• A silly hat worn on New Years Eve

• A tax placed on items sold by other countries

• A tax placed on all items that people need to buy

Why did the US raise tariffs on foreign items?

• These tariffs made foreign items expensive, which forced people to buy products made in America.

• These items were made by countries that we fought during World War I.

• These items were cheaply made and broke easily.

What did many people do to be able to participate in the stock market?

• Wish really hard that fairies would send them the money.

• Borrow money and buy on margin.

• Ask the government for the money they needed.

• Get the money they needed from rich family members.