Most economists and historians agree that not

[Gail B]

just one factor caused the Great Depression.? They argue that there were several factors that contributed to the Depression. Some factors were: an old and decaying industrial base, the over-expansion of farm production, the availability of easy credit, an unequal distribution of income, hoarding of money, stock market speculation and buying on margin, bank failures, monetary and fiscal policies, trade and regulatory policies. Select any two of the factors and explain how they contributed to the Great Depression.

[Black Knight]

Amazing how many of the factors are in place today, isn't it. :)Everything you mention above were contributing factors, it was sort of a chain reaction that, once set in motion, got out of control. You mention distribution & hoarding, and I believe this is how it started. Back then railroads & steel had most of the money, and most of the govenrment subsidies. Other companies were struggling to survivie. They paid their employees less, people consumed less, their stocks dropped. Then all the other factors come into play, like what you mentioned about speculation, credit, etc.Today it could come anywhere. The Chinese stock market is white hot, and most of it is speculation and, yes, according to statistics mostly with borrowed funds. Our own Dow is way overdue for a correction. This time the chain reaction could well be a worldwide one.

[bullet b]

if most economists and historians cant agree then, why do we pay them so much to disagree? i guess they can never lose their job if they disagree. we pay them to run our country? wow i believe my tax dollars could be used in better places, like getting people to get jobs instead of debating what caused the great depression that was 80+ years ago. what caused the great depression was that the war ended and our factories were still producing war level goods as in quantities then the war ended and there was no one to buy the load of inventory we had and banks cut the money supply short so we ran out of money.