Struggles of Journey

Ed Paulsen was a freight train rider who struggled finding a good job because he went through many uncertain days where he would not know if he would even receive any money for his work. I find this story interesting because it was the way of life that many Americans had experienced in these harsh times. These jobs were very competitive as many of these men woke up very early in the morning in order to get ready for the day of work and prove to others that they should be chosen to work for these people. There were thousands of men competing to get a pay check for the day and Paulsen described the men who picked them as he said "They were the most vicious enemies of this drifting, reckless, hungry crowd of people"(95). This shows that as these owners of many of the companies looking for workers for them felt the need to be cruel to their customers because they believed that their power could make them do anything. They knew the crowd of these people were desperate for jobs in order to get food and money to help support them, but they felt the need to treat them horribly. Luckily for Paulsen as many were very negatively affected by the stock market crash, he was not because he working punching cattle and felt the market would not interfere with this job. This is very different from jobs in today's society because when getting a job most people know how much money they will be making for the amount of hours that they work. Many people questioned how the economy would be able to come back in a positive way after this stock market crash and many citizens questions if their jobs would be affected by this. This crash lead to the Great Depression and this reminds me of the recent fall of the economy in our recession. During the recession a few years ago the unemployment rate was very high and the market was in a very bad situation. This connects because in both situations many citizens were uncertain of their future in work.

Arthur Robertson was able to explain in his story the business he worked with in the stock market and how the crash impacted many Americans in these times. Robertson described how many people had trouble in controlling their money and did not know how to be smart in investing their money in the stock market. This relates directly to the article that we just read in class because it explained all of the different strategies in buying stocks and the different ways that the market trends in success and through downfalls. It explained the impacts of the Great Depression and how the stock market was a huge contribution to it. When investing money into the stock market the success is always uncertain because nobody really knows the exact direction of where the economy will go. Before the Great Depression many Americans thought the economy was headed into a pretty good direction and when the market crashed many questioned the reasons for it and questioned if it would ever be able to recover in the future. As many citizens expected success to continue Robertson explained their thoughts as he said "everybody in those days expected the sun to shine forever"(101). This shows that this stock market crash was very unexpected as many people thought the economy was headed in a good direction. This can relate to populism because in their movement they wanted to get rid of the debts on the farmers because it was very hard for these farmers to get out of their debts and in this stock market crash it was very hard to get out of all of the loss money in the market. This can relate to my life because I am actually very involved in the stock market. I set up an account online with my dad and I own 4 stocks. I check how the market is doing everyday and watch CNBC to see where the market will be going next. I love following the market and different stocks because it gives me a good idea of the future of the economy and allows me to learn more about different events happening around the world that are impacting the stock market.