Chapter+26-The+Great+Depression+Timeline

//**1920's**// .
 * During World War 1, federal spending tripled three times as much as tax collections. When the government cut back on spending to balance the budget in 1920, after that a monstrous recession happened. The war economy invested heavily in the manafucturing sector and, the next decade saw an explosion of productivity.


 * An average of 600 banks were falling year.


 * Labor declined throughout the decade. The United Mine Workers Union saw a downfall in membership; it went from 500,000 in 1920, to 75,000 in 1928.


 * Over the decade, about 1200 mergers swallowed more than 6000 individual companies. By 1929, 200 corporations controlled more than half of America's industry.


 * As the end of the decade was approaching, the bottom 80% income-earners were removed from the tax rolls completely. Taxes on the wealthy also, fell throughout the decade.


 * By 1929, the richest 1% owned 40% of the nation's wealth. The bottom 93% experienced a 4% drop in per-capita income between 1923-1929.


 * The conserative Supreme Court outlawed federal child labor laws.


 * In 1923, president Warren Harding died in office. Due to his death Coolidge became president.


 * Stock markets began to rise, which beared little relation to the rest of the economy.


 * The top tax rate lowered 25% in 1925. The lowest rate in eight decades following World War I.


 * Between May 1928 and September 1929, average stocks rose 40%. The bloom was mainly artificial.


 * In 1929 Herbert Hover took office for the president of the United States.


 * The annual per-capita income was $750. More than half of all Americans were living below the minimum subsitence level.


 * Backlog of bussiness' inventories grew three times larger than the previous year.


 * The recession began in August of 1929, two months before the stock market crashed. During that two month period production declined an annual 20%, wholesale prices were at 7.5%, and personal was at 5%.


 * //1930's//**
 * By Februaury, the Federal Reserve cut the prime interest rate from 6 to 4 percent. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon announced; the Fed will stand by as the market worked itself out.


 * The Supreme Court ruled that tyhe monoply U.S Steel didn't violate anti-trust laws, as long as competition existed.


 * The GNP fell 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbed from 3.2 to 8.7 percent.


 * No major legislation is passed addressing the Depression.


 * The GNP fell another 8.5 percent; unemployment rose to 15.9 percent.
 * Industrial