Who Didn't Benefit from the Boom?

Question 1

What acronym do we use for the losers of the boom?

Answer 1

FLOP

Question 2

What does the acronym stand for?

Answer 2

Farmers

Low-wage earners

Old Industries

Poor African-Americans

Question 3

How were farmers affected by the boom?

Answer 3

• Produced too many crops, so the prices fell
• Borrowed money from banks to survive but ended up in severe debt
  
  • Eventually had to sell their farms; became wanderers looking for any kind of work
• By 1928, half of all farmers were living in poverty

Question 4

How were low-wage earners affected by the boom?

Answer 4

• Richest 5% earned 33% of all the money in the US

- 6 million families had an income of less than $1000 per year.

Question 5

How were old industries affected by the boom?

Answer 5

• Old industries i.e coal, cotton, shipbuilding couldn’t adopt new mass-production methods
• Reduction in the powers of Labour Unions
  
  • workers couldn’t claim better wages and working conditions in old industries
• Coal and shipbuilding: prices fell, demand decreased, workers made redundant.
• Cotton: New synthetic fibres i.e rayon developed as an alternative and became very popular

Question 6

How were poor African-Americans affected by the boom?

Answer 6

• Suffered economically, particularly in the South
• Segregation
• Trying to improve the rights of them would lead to threats from the KKK
• Lots of black people moved to the Northern cities like New York to look for work but ended up in ghettos.