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What you would do if you were James Allred during the dust bowl

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So the price of the goods in the United States, because we do have a free market economy, is set completely on supply and demand. And because of overproduction in a couple of industries, we're going to see prices fall. And the first industry this occurs in is agriculture. To help the agricultural industry, I would send out money weekly to farmers that are in debt to make sure they do not fall into an endless cycle of debt, and insure that they do not overproduce crops and make prices for these crops fall lower and lower till they aren't profitable anymore and devastate both workers and the economy.

The second industry to face falling prices was the oil industry. And of course, that was particularly important here in Texas. Oil was one of the most important industries to the state. And the cause of overproduction in Texas was really centered in East Texas. In East Texas they didn't have big companies invested in the oil industry. It was thousands and thousands of independent oil men. And of course they were completely dependent on their one or two wells. And so when it was obvious that production needed to be cut in order for prices to stabilize, these independent oil men were unwilling to do that because, of course, that would affect their livelihood. The governor finally has to come in and declare martial law in order to try to stabilize prices by limiting production. Many independent oil drillers basically ignored the governor. They would sneak in at night to tap off their wells and so forth. And it isn't until 1935 that we start to see oil prices in Texas finally stabilize. To stop this, I would invest in the oil industry and make sure that the men running oil wells did not depend on them, and that if overproduction happened and the Governor has to declare martial law in order to try to stabilize prices by limiting production, the oil drillers would not go against this and continue overproducing oil.

Now the problem with a depression is that it's difficult to get out of one. And the reason why is because of all the science behind depression, of all the numbers and the math, at the heart of an economy is how you personally feel the economy's doing. And me, and our neighbors, and our families. Because if I'm worried about the economy, if I'm worried I'm not going to have a job, if I'm worried my husband might lose his job, I'm more likely to save my money than go out and buy a new car or a new TV, for example. So people being worried about an economy is bad for an economy because what starts to happen is, people spend less money. Now of course, if I'm spending less money on cars or refrigerators or anything else, the car companies, the refrigerator companies are going to start to limit production because people aren't buying as many cars. People aren't buying as many refrigerators. Now when companies have to decrease production, of course, they have to lay off workers. And of course, that just increases people's fears about the economy. So it's a big cycle and it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. To stop this, I would try to communicate to the people that the economy is fine and will get better with their help if they continue to spend money. If they are scared of losing their jobs and not having money anymore, I can say that I will send money monthly to them so that they won't need to worry about being laid off and not being able to afford stuff.

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I would run as fast as possible
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