Holy Crap! How’d They Do That?

Holy Crap Accomplishment: Depression Era Scarcity

WWI Farmers worked hard to increase productivity

1920s: Farmers struggled with low prices

Newspapers printed names of those on government assistance

1929:  Stock Market Crashed – difficult in cities

Couldn’t afford to buy new clothes

Couldn’t pay rent

Young men jumped on train cars to find any job available

1930s:  Farming:

Prices dropped: corn 8-10 cents a bushel – some burned corn, cheaper than fuel

Left crops in fields: couldn’t afford to harvest them

Drought: Dust storms

Grandparents: No crops in 1931, 1933 and 1934. 1933- Grandfather planted crops 3 times and never harvested a one.

Shelled corn 2 cents per bushel. Ear corn 2 cents less. 

Many sold their livestock, their hope for the future.

Those with livestock, feed them thistles without hay available.

Bankruptcies

Riots – Farmers attacked judges

Formed Labor Unions

Cities:

Manufacturing Output: Dropped 54% of 1929 levels

Unemployment: 25-30%

Bank Panics

1931: Spring and Fall

1932: Fall

1933: Early: Result left only 50% of banks in business

Holy Crap Thinking:

Necessity mother of all invention

Homemade

Save everything

Keep trying

Take advantage of every opportunity

Holy Crap Quote:

 “How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other.”

John Steinbeck

Holy Crap Challenge:

Think Bigger: Others have had it worse.

Reach Higher: Look beyond the current circumstances

Do the Impossible: Use the lessons from the difficult times to leverage later success