riots erupted on the bread lines
worse than on bread lines...Minneapolis and Arkansas had riots in 1931.
There was labor unrest as well.
There was a food riot in Arkansas and huge protests over Roosevelt killing hogs and cattle and burying them to try and drive up the price of meat. There was a Teamsters protest that ended in a riot in Minneapolis and a Harlem race riot. Chicago police killed 10 in a steel strike and even Canada had riots in Vancouver and elsewhere. Regina had what was known as the "Trekkers" who marched in protest of the lack of work and food only to be shot by police in a melee that most believe was started by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police themselves.
The food riot in England, Arkansas a small community East of Little Rock is well documented. There was food in town but the area was suffering from a drought, a drought that was repeated in 34 and 36. When a farmer found a widow starving and destitute he rounded up neighbors to ask for food stored in warehouses in England (the town). The stores were eventually opened up with a promise from the Red Cross to reimburse the stores. When Will Rogers heard of the situation, he asked for the government to step in. They didn't and Rogers went on a tour raising money for drought relief. Rogers had a tie to Arkansas. His wife was from the town of Rogers and his father had been the commander over many Confederate soldiers from the state who fought under the Cherokee Mounted Rifles, famous for its Indian General Stand Watie. Rogers own sister and grandfather (who was murdered in the Cherokee Civil War before the War between the States) are buried within 2 miles or so of the Arkansas border.
The England Food Riot, although no one was killed or seriously injured made national news and was used by Roosevelt to campaign against the "heartless" Hoover.
And history repeated itself as civil unrest in LA, where claims were made that illegal Mexicans were taking jobs from Americans. 6,000 Mexicans were deported in one month alone.
The depression also saw a huge riot in Washington as WWI vets argued for pensions or bonuses as promised. This resulted in the Army riots near the capitol. Congress eventually gave bonds to WWI vets over Roosevelt's veto. He then urged the vets to not cash the bonds, rather keep them. They cashed them anyway and bought cars and homes boosting the economy in 34-35, only to have the high cost of social security, passed that year, send the economy back into recession in 36.
I see several issues that is holding the economy back.
- fear that things are not going to get better
- fear that the new health care is going to cost far more than anticipated just like Medicare did.
- small banks are hurting under defaults and a severe FDIC stepping in. "Forebearance" is now a dirty word and many farmers and small businessmen who depended on small bridge loans to get thru lean times are being told no.... High fuel prices have caused at least 10 long time poultry growers to lose their farms for lack of financing for one of my customers alone. And if fuel remains high, many more will be added to the list this winter. Our bitter weather hurt in many ways. I spoke with one farmer who is solvent that said he has yet to pay off his propane bill for the winter and was afraid he may go into fall before the debt is paid off. Some growers are actually getting "red" checks. Meaning the gas bill was higher than the income from the barn. (Many integrators own a gas company as well as the chicks so they deduct the gas bill from the grower's check.)
- uncertainty over regulations to come down the pike (like Dodd-Frank)
- uncertainty over future inflation
- inability of schools to produce students that have STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math) skills. There is a limit to how many finance and MBA business majors they need.
- lack of confidence that the government (Rep or Dem) is capable of doing the right thing to get us back on track.
idiots. Name one decade when there was no famine in the world since Biblical times.