Some Short Notes About the Depression and the Recession

• The Great Depression and the Recession both started after a combination of bank failures, stock market crashes, and rampant debt (Ferguson 36).

• Both times, the government used financial stimulus to help the economy.

• President Roosevelt got Congress to pass a five billion dollar relief program in 1938, which did not help much (“American President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt”).

• In 2008, banks and other types of financial institutions got hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money from the government (Boone 20).

• Franklin D. Roosevelt used many different types of public-works projects (“American President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt”).

• Public-works projects have not truly been used as a strategy in the present day. The closest we have come are stimulus funds which include public works (Clemmitt 155).

• The Great Depression eventually ended because of World War II, which created jobs and increased spending (“American President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt”).

• According to the calculations of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession ended and recovery began in June 2009. However, the economy is still far from normal (Business Cycle Dating Committee).