Hey,
So the economy hasn’t been this bad since the Great Depression. As every APUSHer knows very well, the farmers were the ones who felt the depression ten years earlier… spookily, the farmers were having trouble about ten years ago as well. Coincidence? Maybe… but it is also a fact that prices of agricultural goods were low before both recessions (product of efficiency and over supply). FDR helped that with AAA which gave subsidies to farmers who cut production, which raised prices, which stimulated the farm economy (ooh, I like when I get to use the things I learned in other classes! J ) however, now the government can’t entangle themselves as much as they did in the economy in the 1930s (that was an unprecedented amount of interconnectivity during a time of peace). So with a large part of the nation already feeling the effects of a recession, the middle class has to be the ones who stimulate their recovery. But when they don’t, a bad depression will ensue. So for those who end up in the poverty zone, what do they do? Well, farmers lose their land, the others lose what they have, and once basics like food become scarce (note that the AAA’s raising prices didn’t help those who were having trouble in the poverty zone). So poverty is badwhen in a recession even more so than in a time of regular economic conditions (inflation helps people who have debts and depressions don’t really help with the value of the dollar (hence the Populist party and the push for debtors and silver)).
The economy and its recessions have a lot of roots in the food industry. So when it gets wacky and busts, the economy will too. As FDR said “if the farmers starve today, we will tomorrow.”
Catherine Korizno
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