And now, it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst.
Hey, smarty pants.
That sound you're hearing is a money counting machine.
Because right now, I'm at the bank.
Alrighty, your checks have been deposited to your savings account and here's the cash you wanted from your checking account.
Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, and one hundred dollars.
There you go.
Will there be anything else, Mr. Narrator?
Oh, please, Bernard.
Call me trusty.
I think that'll be all for today.
The hundred bucks are to donate to the local animal shelter.
How generous.
Ooh, but I will help myself to one of those colorful bank lollipops.
Take a few.
Maybe the adoption dogs will want some.
Thanks, bank teller Bernard.
You know, I gotta say, banking seems like a pretty fun job.
Between the money counter... the stamper... the giant vault...
All the amazing customers.
Uh, where do I deposit $72 in nickels?
It sure is, trustee.
Well, these days anyway, thanks to lollipops and the FDIC.
Uh, the what now?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Oh, right, of course.
Um, what is that again?
Oh, just something the government came up with after the Great Depression.
As I'm sure you know, the Great Depression was not a good time for banking or bankers.
Well, for one thing, it definitely sounds depressing.
But in all seriousness, what was banking like during the Great Depression?
Well, for one thing, folks went to the banks, and the banks had no money.
Yikes.
And they probably had no lollipops either.
Definitely no lollipops.
Wow.
That all sounds terrible.
You know Bernard, I've heard of the Great Depression, but come to think of it, I don't know all that much about it.
What about you, smarty pants?
How much do you know about the Great Depression other than that the whole country basically went broke?
Oof, and it wasn't just the United States.
The effects of the Great Depression were felt all over the world.
Oh, wow.
I do have a lot to learn.
Like, what caused the Great Depression?
Whose fault was it?
The government?
Wall Street?
The banks?
Was everyone poor?
And how did it eventually get fixed?
Great questions, trustee.
If you have time, I can answer them for you.
Great.
I'll just grab a few more lollipops in case I get hungry.
All right, Smarty Pants.
It looks like we're in for another big whiff of history and science on The Smart Edge.
Who's smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science?
Or history?
Listen up, everyone.
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Mmm, why do bank lollipops taste so good?
Probably because they're free.
Also, I might have to cut you off.
We do have other customers, you know.
Hey, the ATM ate my card!
Uh, sir, that's a garbage can.
Oops!
Okay, first things first.
For any smarty pants listening who may never have heard of the Great Depression.
What are we talking about here?
Was it great?
Was it depressing?
What was it?
Well, it was great in the sense that it was big, and it was most certainly depressing.
The Great Depression was a period in the 1930s during which many countries experienced a severe economic downturn.
So in other words, everybody suddenly ran out of money?
More or less.
Sounds like less.
But wait, how does something like that happen?
Aren't there laws and rules and statutes and other official-sounding things to prevent that from happening?
There are now.
Back then, not so much.
But you also have to understand, many different things caused the Great Depression.
Let's take a look at them one by one.
Okie dokie.
But first, Smarty Pants, do you know in which country did the Great Depression first begin?
Was it A, the United Kingdom?
B, the United States?
Or C, the United Arab Emirates?
If you said B, the United States, you're right.
Ding!
Yep, it all started right here in the good old US of A.
Ironically or maybe not so ironically, in the years leading up to the country being broke, America had experienced quite the opposite of a depression.
Ever heard of the Roaring Twenties?
I sure have.
The 1920s were called the Roaring Twenties because things were hot, real hot.
The US economy was flourishing.
People were partying like crazy.
Everyone was dancing the Charleston and there was a general feeling of optimism.
Right.
But isn't that a good thing?
It was.
In fact, it was too good.
Oh.
One of the reasons the Great Depression happened is because too much stuff was being produced and there wasn't enough demand for it.
And some of that stuff was big, expensive stuff.
Really big.
Like entire houses.
So there were too many houses being built and not enough people buying them.
Exactly.
And that's just one example.
Another is all sorts of luxury goods were being produced that weren't selling fast enough, and the stuff that was selling was being bought on credit.
Smarty Pants.
When you buy something on credit, it basically means you're buying it using borrowed money.
Money you'll eventually need to pay back.
Very good, trustee.
And what happened is, during the 1920s, a lot of people couldn't afford the luxury goods they'd bought with borrowed money when it came time to pay that money back.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh is right.
But it wasn't just individuals going shopping that made the Great Depression happen.
There was a whole big industry of workers that added to the problem.
Smartypants, what types of workers do you think Bernard is referring to?
Is it farmers, teachers, bankers, or accountants?
The answer is... Farmers.
Seriously?
How did farmers help cause the Great Depression?
Weren't they busy growing fruits and vegetables and milking cows?
Again, that's the problem.
They were a little too busy.
During the boom of the 1920s, farmers overproduced crops, meaning they grew more product than people were buying.
This caused the prices of those crops to go down.
Way down.
I'm confused.
Why would farmers all start overproducing their farms?
Part of it wasn't really their fault.
Some of the overproduction happened because new technology, like the mechanized tractor, allowed them to plow a lot more field in a lot less time.
I see.
That'll do it.
Of course, adding to the problem was that the farmers bought their new tractors on credit.
Suddenly, these farmers, who weren't making enough money due to the food being cheaper thanks to overproduction, went into debt paying for their tractors.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
So you're telling me, too many empty houses, too much cheap food, too many people buying fancy things and too many farmers buying tractors with borrowed money made the entire country come crashing down.
Yes and no.
It gets worse.
Oh, no.
Oh, yeah.
You see, in addition to all the credit spending, farmer overproduction and debt building, the American economy at the time wasn't diverse enough.
Um, okay.
What does that mean?
It means the economy relied way too much on two big industries.
Smarty Pants, I'll give you some audio hints.
See if you can guess what those two industries were.
Ready?
Here's one.
And here's the other.
Did you say construction and cars?
If you did, great job.
What wasn't so great is that there were suddenly too many cars and not enough people driving them.
Now there were lots of empty cars and empty houses.
Oof, that's not good.
It gets worse.
To round off the many reasons the Great Depression happened, there's the fact that the banking system at the time was much weaker than it is today.
Banks were much smaller operations back then and they themselves were working on borrowed money which they eventually ran out of.
Banks ran out of money?
You bet.
Then what happened?
Wait, don't tell me just yet.
We'll find out how depressing the Great Depression got.
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Now back to Who Smarted.
Um, is there a reason you're playing war sound effects, Bernard?
There sure is.
In addition to all the things we've already mentioned, the big red, juicy horrible cherry on top was after the First World War, entire countries owed the United States money.
Lots of money.
Mostly it was Germany and Austria.
But get this, Germany also owed other countries money too.
So basically, we had to lend money to countries that already owed us money so they could repay debts to other countries.
What?
It created an impossible cycle of huge debt.
Oof, sounds like America was really bad at managing money back then.
Oh yeah.
And all of these terrible factors the overspending, the overmanufacturing of goods, buying on credit, weak banking systems and the cycle of debt with other countries all came to a terrifying head on October 29th 1929.
Smarty Pants, do you have any idea what happened on that fateful day?
Was it A, the Titanic sank?
Iceberg, right ahead!
B, the Hindenburg exploded.
Or C, the stock market crashed.
The answer, of course, is C?
Yep.
When the US stock market crashed, basically the value of everything went way way, way down.
Whoa, that's some scary stuff.
Smarty Pants, what was the nickname for the day the stock market crashed?
Is it A, Scary Sunday, B, Manic Monday, or C, Black Tuesday?
If you said C, Black Tuesday, you're right.
It's actually one of the most famous days in world history, and its effects were felt throughout the 1930s.
How so?
Millions of people in America lost their money and couldn't afford food or a place to live.
Lines for soup kitchens and homelessness became a common sight.
People pretty much had nothing.
And because the price of stocks plummeted so low and so much money was lost, entire companies shut down, meaning there were little to no jobs.
It was depressing, to say the least.
Hey, smarty pants.
By 1933, the height of the Great Depression, how many people in the United States were out of work?
Over 1 million?
Over 5 million?
Or over 12 million?
Sadly, if you said over 12 million people were out of work, you're right.
Oof.
And the ones lucky enough not to lose their jobs outright saw their wages go way down.
Was there anyone that didn't feel the effects of the Great Depression?
Great question.
Surprisingly, there were a few industry giants that managed not only to get by but actually make huge fortunes during the Great Depression.
Businessmen in oil and aviation did well during the Great Depression, as did some movie stars.
Movie stars?
Hollywood, baby!
You see, with millions of people depressed and out of work, they needed to be entertained to keep morale up as much as possible.
During the 1930s, movie ticket prices went down from 50 cents to 25 cents and some people became very famous during this period.
The actress Mae West, for example, became the highest-paid entertainer in the country right in the middle of the Great Depression.
Lucky her.
So, Bernard, how did we ever get out of the Great Depression?
The answer to that may surprise you.
Surprise me good or surprise me bad?
Both.
Uh, why are you playing war sound effects again?
Because it was the start of the Second World War that created tons of jobs in America.
And those jobs helped boost the economy and get us out of the Great Depression.
Oh, wow.
That is a surprise that's both good and bad.
But it wasn't just war that helped.
There was also something called the New Deal.
Oh yeah?
Smarty Pants, have you ever heard of the New Deal?
Of course, it wasn't just one deal.
It was a bunch of different programs, policies and regulations set forth by the president of the time.
Smarties, let's see if you can guess the president who helped author the New Deal.
Was it Abraham Lincoln?
Theodore Roosevelt?
Howard Taft?
Or Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
The answer is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a.k.a.
FDR.
Among other things.
FDR's New Deal basically made sure something like the Great Depression would never happen again.
Finally, they implemented some rules about all this stuff.
Exactly.
In addition to Social Security, the New Deal included the creation of brand new government agencies, like the Securities Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which I mentioned earlier.
So what do all these extremely complex sounding government agencies actually do?
Well, one makes sure that the stock market is fair and the other one protects people when they put their money in the bank.
Just in case that bank gets into trouble in the future.
Wow, sounds like we've come a long way since the Great Depression.
We sure have.
That was a really dark period that affected millions of people and ruined a lot of lives.
However, we did learn a lot of important lessons from it and implemented lots of safeguards to make the economy and banking stronger.
That's great.
I think that deserves another lollipop.
There are no more lollipops.
You, uh, ate all of them.
Well, that's depressing.
A super shout out to super smarty fan Sage in Okeechobee, Florida.
We're so happy to have you smarting with us, especially on long road trips and during homeschooling.
Sounds like you put your smarty pants on one leg at a time.
Thanks, Sage.
This episode, The Great Depression, was written by Dan Gold and voiced by Phil Jeremy, Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
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