It is a fact that The Great Depression was caused by a failure of the free market and was resolved by government intervention because so many people were buying stocks in the 1920’s, The New Deal was implemented, and the results of Roosevelt’s office time were positive.
The FED increased the money supply in the 1920’s therefore allowing the interest rates to decrease. With the interest rates so low so many people were buying stocks and putting themselves into debt thinking that in the future the interest would go up and they would receive more money than they paid to make themselves go into debt. The low interest rates caused the stock market to get overheated. And finally with all the stocks being bought and people sinking into debt the stock market crashed causing the people who invested in stocks to loose all their money.
When the crash happened in October 1929 the FED decreased the money supply with the expectance that the interest rate would increase which would help bring the economy back up. However this caused the stock market to get worse than the primary problem. Hoover had certain policies and believed that the free market needed to be left alone to bring back up the stock market. This was a wrong thought, and then Roosevelt came along with his New Deal Policy. Within his first one hundred days he passed 16 government intervention acts that brought the economy back up. Over a few years of Government Intervention and the New Deal the Economy began to grow again, and interest rates were coming back up.
The results of the New Deal left a Legacy for us that were positive: The Federal government is responsible for not only the political, but also the economic welfare of the country; the President is expected to accept responsibility for the economic conditions in the country, but the Federal Reserve really calls the shots on a day-to-day basis; The New Deal opened the path for greater levels of government intervention in markets and with few exceptions resulting in government involvement steadily increasing.