Burdens from the Past

The Great Depression that hit American cities in the 1920’s to 1930’s only exacerbated the financial problems incurred from  the earlier years of the 1900’s. American cities expanded immensely and borrowed a lot of money through bonds issues which were unfortunately due in 1930 when the Great Depression was at its peak. The depression was a great fiscal problem coupled with the previous debt made the financial situation even worse. The unexpected nature of the depression made the rate of poverty and unemployment even higher as people were quite comfortable. “Unable to make payments on either principal or interest, many cities defaulted. Others were able to meet their obligations only depleting their sinking funds- emergency monies to be used only as a last resort” ( Chudacoff Pg 231)