Critical Thinking 22-3 #3

How did Hoover's belief in "rugged individualism" shape his policies during the Great Depression?

President Hoover was a big supporter of "rugged individualism," which was basically the idea that people should use their own effort to earn something. With this belief in mind, Hoover opposed any form of federal welfare or direct relief to the needy. He thought that simply giving money would decrease their "moral fiber" and get them into the habit of not trying to pick themselves back up when they know that someone will just help them do it anyway.
Hoovers way of helping the poor was by encouraging the more fortunate, wealthy people, and charities to help pitch in to aid these needy people. He said that the federal government should care for relief measures, but not with a federal bureaucracy. Hoover said a bureaucracy would "be too expensive and would stifle individual liberties."
His policies consulted key leaders in business, banking, and labor and encouraged them to work together to solve the problems of, and improve thenation's "economic woes." As an example, he urged business employers to not cut wages or lay off workers. He Also asked the labor leaders to refrain themselves from asking for better pay or going on strike. Although Hoover tried many things to help the depression, none of them made a great amount of difference.

Critical Thinking 22-2 #3

How was what happened to men during the Great Depression different from what happened to Women and Children?

The depression had a far more different effect on men than the women and children. It was harder for men to adjust to unemployment because they were used to working and supporting their families. Normally, women and children would stay home and do household world and entertain themselves. This was something they were still doing throughout the depression, but couldn't afford a decent home and luxuries such as heat and electricity.
Men during the depression would also live out on the streets by themselves in the cities and look for jobs daily. Their mentality of it was that the family "had one less mouth to feed." Some of the older children, teenagers mostly, had the same idea in mind. Some of the men living on the streets, however, simply couldn't live without a job and abandoned their families. There were as many as 300 thousand homeless men during the depression "hitch hiking and sleeping under bridges." These homeless, work less men came to be known as "hoboes."

22-1 Critical Thinking #4

Judging from the events of the late 20's and early 30's, how important do you think public confidence is to the health of the economy?

The confidence of the public plays a major role in the economy. The public had two very different levels of confidence throughout this era. They had far too much confidence in the 20's, but as the depression came about in the 30's, they didn't have enough. During the "roaring twenties," people were buying all their luxurious goods on a new system called credit, which basically let a person "buy now and pay later." The problem with this was that the public had so much confidence that it didn't even occour to them that they couldnt afford the resulting bill. The public also had far too much confidence in the stock market.
Everyone was so confident they could make a profit by selling their stocks, that nobody was buying, thus, causing the stock market crash. Once the great depression hit, people not only lost every cent, but every bit of confidence they had. People lost the spirit to pick themselves back up from the beginning. The low amount of jobs available didn't help the cause either.

Current Events Summary 2.1 (China)

There have been some some interesting foreign relations in China during the month of November. On November 5th, America's Defense Secretary, Robert M. Gates, investigated China’s aggressive modernization of its armed forces and its even more aggressive expansion of the economy and its growing global role. Mr. Gates stated “China’s increasing political and economic stature calls for this country to take on a greater share of responsibility for the health and success of the international system.” On the 8th of November, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and her Russian counterpart Alexander Zhukov meet at the second China-Russia Business Summit to take advantage of the China-Russia chamber of commerce of machinery and electronic products. They also agreed to deepen cooperation in border regions, further encourage the enthusiasm of local governments and organize time between revitalizing China's former industrial bases in the northeast and developing Russia's Far East region.
Chinese top legislator and chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Wu Bangguo left Moscow also during the month of November. During his visit to Russia Wu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. the two sides exchanged views and reached consensus on bilateral relations, exchanges of visits and international issues of common concern.Both sides expressed satisfaction over the cooperation between the parliaments in recent years and expressed the desire to improve the mechanism of cooperation between the parliaments. In the business of trade, Kazakhstan agreed to give China a share of 2,000 tons of Uranium a year in exchange for its share in a uranium-processing business. Kazatomprom signed agreements in Beijing with the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and the China National Nuclear Corporation, who happen to be China’s largest producers of atomic energy.
China and India will hold their first joint military exercise next month. They have reiterated they were ready to take their strategic cooperative partnership to a "new level". Indian Defense Ministry spokesman, Sitanshu Kar said about 100 troops each from both the countries will take part in the military drill. A Chinese naval vessel has set off on a landmark visit to Japan. It will be the first visit to Japan by a naval vessel of communist China. The visit was agreed at a meeting in August between defense ministers of the two nations. The ministers also agreed to set up a military hot line at their talks, the first in the Japanese capital for almost 10 years.