Great+Depression

[[image:http://techbuddha.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/nobody_knows_you.jpg width="433" height="433" align="right" caption="Great Depression" link="GD"]]Great Depression.
The decade of the 1930s saw the **Great Depression** in the United States and many other countries. During this decade large numbers of people lived in poverty, desperately in need of more food, clothing, and shelter. Yet the resources that could produce that food, clothing, and shelter were sitting idle, producing nothing. At the worst point of the Great Depression, in 1933, one in four Americans who wanted to work was unable to find a job. Further, it was not until 1941, when World War II was underway, that the official unemployment rate finally fell below 10%. This massive wave of unemployment hit before a food stamp program and unemployment insurance existed. There were few government programs designed to help the poor or those in temporary difficulty. Further, most wives did not work, so if the husband lost his job, all income for that household stopped. An equivalent rate of unemployment today would cause less economic hardship because of the variety of programs that cushion unemployment and poverty.