Consumerism
The 1920s were considered the Roaring Twenties because Americans believed that the economy was booming and people were making more money then ever before. However, this notion was incorrect. The reality was that: "The top 1% of wealthy Americans saw their incomes increase by 75% during the 1920s... The other 99% of Americans saw their income increase by only 9%..." (Textbook). Thus, there was a huge income gap between the wealthy and the poor. Only a few people were actually gaining a lot of money in a short period of time. Big corporations had come up with the concept and pratice of selling things on installment plans, so people could buy a product and pay for it later. Americans started to spend more money then they actually had and went into great debt. Because citizens were able to buy more then they ever had, it gave the false impression that America was in fact prosperous. The corporations that were actually doing well in the failing economy, were only able to prosper because the conservative president believed in not getting involved in the economy and cut back on regulations. So, the businesses could basically do what they wanted to make more money.
The political cartoon above depicts false prosperity conveyed during the 1920s. The man running with the drum represents how the big businesses were gaining money fast. The wagon in the back represents the average American citizens. They are far behind the big businesses which symbolizes how little their incomes had grown and how big the income gap was between these two parties. This cartoon is poking fun at how people believed America was very prosperous when in reality is was far from being prosperous.
The political cartoon above depicts false prosperity conveyed during the 1920s. The man running with the drum represents how the big businesses were gaining money fast. The wagon in the back represents the average American citizens. They are far behind the big businesses which symbolizes how little their incomes had grown and how big the income gap was between these two parties. This cartoon is poking fun at how people believed America was very prosperous when in reality is was far from being prosperous.