Causes of the Great Depression

OVERPRODUCTION
So maybe it's not all our fault. The latest issue in the New York Times is putting some of the blame on businesses. Apparently, instead of producing goods at the speed and rate at which we the consumers need/want them, businesses became accustomed to the rate at which they produced in the 1920s and never slowed down production once demand dropped. I don't understand why they'd continue making cars or refrigerators when a family only needs one. Once most of the country has these things there's no need to make so many at the same rate because there's almost no one to buy them. Anyway, the newspaper called this overproduction a surplus, supply over demand. After reading the article, I'm left with one question: is surplus the governments fault or the business owners?
- Mary Anne Smith

http://www.fordyandcmodelregister.co.uk/images/USAmodel19ProtoBIG.jpg
This is a picture of a Ford car. In the 1920's the production of these cars was

part of what created the economic boom and put the roar in the roaring twenties. The production of the automobile created growth in industries associated with the car such as steel, glass, rubber, and gasoline industries. Alongside growth in industries, automobiles created many jobs not just in those industries but also in the construction of highways and in running places like gas stations. In the 1920s, cars did a lot of good, but as the 30s rolled around and the stark market crashed the overproduction in industry's such as the car could be to blame.

http://data.whicdn.com/images/77485433/original.jpg
Refrigerators were also one of the items that aided in the economic boom of the 1920s. And just like the car, they were also one of the things that became surplussed and a downfall of the economy.

http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/images/962.jpg
Washing machines, just like refrigerators and automobiles, were a consumer good that became overproduced and led to the great depression.