<P> Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time . John D. Rockefeller said "These are days when many are discouraged . In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone . Prosperity has always returned and will again ." The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April . This was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929 . </P> <P> Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year . On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by 10% . In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S. </P> <P> By mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed . By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928 . Prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930 . Then a deflationary spiral started in 1931 . Conditions were worse in farming areas, where commodity prices plunged and in mining and logging areas, where unemployment was high and there were few other jobs . </P> <P> The decline in the U.S. economy was the factor that pulled down most other countries at first; then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better . Frantic attempts to shore up the economies of individual nations through protectionist policies, such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot--Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries, exacerbated the collapse in global trade . By late 1930, a steady decline in the world economy had set in, which did not reach bottom until 1933 . </P>

When did the great depression start and how