1929 vs. Today

Economics might be the most confusing subject for me. As far as I know, the Great Depression was caused by a crash in the stock market, in which US citizens had invested too much money, causing many to go bankrupt. Of course, the majority of people were not stock owners, but when a certain percentage of people lose money, it has a ripple effect. Businesses close, employees are laid off, banks dry up and average people can no longer access their savings. I'm sure there are a multitude of other factors leading up the Great Depression, but that is how I view it. The crash in the stock market had an effect on Broadway, and lead to an end of many of the aspects and culture of "the Roaring Twenties." The importance of Broadway started to decline, when films began to feature people talking and having conversations (as opposed to just singing,) due to the advancement of technology. Around the same time, the radio was also invented. Since people were now watching "talkies," and finding other forms of entertainment, Broadway was not taking in as much revenue. They were becoming unable to support the salaries of people like the Gershwins, who then went to Hollywood, also making Broadway less appealing to the public. I'm sure that the lack of money during the depression was also a factor, in that people would be less likely to afford a broadway show, and would rather listen to something like the radio, which they didn't have to pay for. Live performances weren't as "interesting," when you have something new, like the radio. The depression caused a rise in the popularity of songs, such as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" which were appealing and relatable to pretty much everyone. That particular song was enven banned from the radio at one point for that reason. So, of course, with technology, comes censorship.

While I do not enjoy talking about the recession that we are in, it does have some similarities to the Great Depression. Due to the fact that this country is extremely partisan and divided, many people will have their own opinions as to what caused the recession that we are in. As far as I am concerned, there was (and still is) too large of a difference between the rich and the middle class (not to mention those who are below middle class.) A large part of this has to do with the Bush era, where large tax cuts were given to the rich, widening that difference. Many will counter that argument by mentioning the "trickle down affect," but I won't even bother mentioning that. I could go into the decline of the housing market, rise in forclosures, bankruptcy, and unemployment, but that is not really the point of this blog. While I am not entirely sure how technology was affected, judging by my point of view from living in today's society, I can make some guesses. You will notice that certain stores, such as Borders Books and Blockbuster are closing. While these stores used to be very prominent and take in quite a bit of money, times have changed. People no longer buy CD's from Borders. They use the internet to purchase individual songs, or even just download them illegally, causing the music business to lose revenue. Books are even starting to see a decline. We now have the Kindle and the iPad, both electronic devices that one can read on, instead of flipping through the pages of a tangible book, causing many bookstores to go out of business. Regarding movies, many are downloaded or streamed, causing places like Blockbuster to lose their purpose. When someone does want to view an actual DVD, they order it from Netflix and have it mailed to their house. Like music, movies are also commenly downloaded illegally, seeing as how people are unable to afford them. I'm sure that movie theaters are having an impact as well, due to people not being able to afford the tickets. While I have not actually looked into this, I know that my friends and I are unable to pay the money, and I somehow doubt we are the only ones....