The Great Depression
How many of you have heard about the Great Depression? Nice, well today I am going to teach you a bit more about it.
Let's go back to before the Depression had started. It was the 1920s and America was crackling with energy. World War 1 had ended in 1918. The soldiers were home and the economy was booming. It was the Go-Go twenties, people were ready to go out and have a good time. Every night middle class americans crowded the theaters and other places and in homes across the country jazz music blared out of brand new radios. During the Roaring 20s all sorts of new products were being made. Products such as; telephones, refrigerators, fans electric heaters, and vacuum cleaners. Of course, some of these products had been
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Stock sales provided companies with the money needed to expand their businesses, and in return, the stocks served as investments for the people who bought them by increasing in value as a company became successful. Many americans and some economists believed that the stock market had become a ure bet. Almost everyone saw the stock market as a sure way to become rich. Some thought that the stock market was such a great investment that they borrowed money from their stockbrokers to buy more stock. Stockbrokers are people who sell and buy stocks and shares in companies on behalf of other people. As the value of stocks went up more people invested in the market this pushed prices up even …show more content…
Loud bells rang to signal the openings at the New York Stock Exchange, but the following day loud cries of, “Sell! Sell!” were incredibly loud. Everyone wanted out of the stock market. A guard who had witnessed the shock felt by many stockbrokers at the stock exchange said, “They roared like a lot of lions and tigers. They hollered and screamed. It was like a bunch of crazy people. Every once in awhile, when a big company would take another tumble, you’d see some poor devil fall to the floor.” As the stocks lost their value the wealthy people lost their fortunes. Many middle class americans lost their life savings and hope. People Flooded onto New York City’s Wall Street, (the center of finance in the United States,) hoping to find out what had happened to their money. Unfortunately, there was nothing that anyone could do, their money was gone. By the end of the day more than 16 million stocks had been sold, a record that would stand for forty years.The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped another 12% that day. Thousands of investors had lost everything. To this day, October 29, 1929 is known as ‘Black
In Document 3, by New York Times, October 29, 1929, stated that, “Stock prices slump $14,000,000,000 in nation-wide stampede to unload; bankers to support market today.” On October 29, 1929, a panic overcame the markets, being called Black Tuesday. The stock market catastrophically dropped in value by $16 million dollars––nearly one-half of the market’s pre-crash value––and almost all companies’ stock was affected by Black Tuesday. In Document 2, John T. Raskob, former executive, General Motors; Chairman,
After Black Tuesday, people who entrusted their money to the bank, began to grow anxious and demand their money from the bank. A wave of “bank runs,” when large numbers of people withdrew their deposits in cash, were starting to occur (“Bank Runs”). Since the stock market crashed, it was inevitable that people would start rushing to the banks to demand their money. These people acted out of fear and were petrified of how the stock market crash would affect the economy as a whole. When the people arrived at the banks they were devastated because their money was not there for them to collect due to the bank being backed by the stock market.
After a while, many businesses went bankrupt, leaving business owners with bills that went unpaid. Luckily, after World War I ended, America had become one of the world’s leading creditors. By this time, Americans, with full confidence of being prosperous forever, were increasingly investing in stocks. Unexpectedly, in the days of 29 October 1929 the stock market had crashed. Banks that had invested heavily on stock market and real estate now had lost most of their money. There is only little money left in the country by now; the period of Great Depression had arrived
The Great Depression originated in the United States with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. The depression was the biggest economic fall in American’s history. This crash stretched throughout the globe and affected the rich as well as the poor. There were many causes that assisted in bringing the depression into existence. However one of the main causes was the disproportionate riches during the nineteen-twenties. The gap between the rich and the working class people was the enlarged industrialize production during this period. Also in this period production cost fell quickly, wages rose slowly and prices remained steady.
The Great Depression was an economic downturn in America that lasted from 1929 until about 1939, making it the longest lasting depression ever experienced by the industrialized world. The stock market crash caused a chain reaction that involved problems such as unemployment, deflation, an increase in debt, and general poverty for lower class citizens. Attempts at escaping the depression weren’t altogether successful. In fact, most of the efforts resulted in high consumer debt as well as over optimistic loans given to the public by banks and business investors. The Depression caused severe political changes in the US as well as its obvious economic failures. After three years of the depression, Herbert Hoover lost the presidential election
“’Blackest Day on Wall Street in Many Years. Selling orders Swamp New York Market. Billions quoted. Values Fade’” (Shreve 133). Similar headlines most likely splashed across most newspapers on October 30, 1929, the day after the stock market crashed. From this date, the United States entered the Great Depression, the time period where the economy was at its lowest. Although signs were present, this era came as a shockwave to most citizens because the 1920s were times of extreme economic prosper. People’s lives were completely torn from their roots. They were left without any method to make a living, but used drastic measures to survive. The people became desperate and did whatever they could to buy food on the table. Anita Shreve depicts
American Society suffered due to the crash. Unemployment in the United States rose to 25%. Even those who maintained a job suffered as wages fell 42%. The previously growing economy fell 50%, and trade between nations with the US plummeted 65% (Amadeo). All of these sudden changes caused an uproar in society. The response to the decline in America’s economy caused American’s to immediately begin throwing out accusations as to the cause of the crash. They began blaming each other and scared stock brokers calling it “panic selling” (Suddath).
Over the weekend some investors lost faith on the stocks so decide to sell their share. On Monday also known as Black Monday the market went down by 13%. After this happened people were afraid of what may come out of this so they went to sale their stock as quickly as possible. Even investors ran to take money out of stock markets because they knew the stocks were going to drop a large amount. The next day the stock market crashed completely over 16,410,030 in shares were traded
Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 was the official beginning of The Great Depression, the day the stock market crashed. The stock market business was the way of getting rich, now was a way to go bankrupt. The government determined people invested in stocks lost $40 billion. People were so far in debt that they could not pay back the banks. 13 to 18 million people across the world had no work
Everyone invested in the stock market began to sell their stocks to prevent going bankrupt. On October 29, 1929 every investors worst nightmare became a reality, the stock
Stocks were no longer thought of as a long term investment and they became prevalent in conversations ranging from in grocery stores to parties. There were stories of maids, teachers, chauffeur's or everyday people, becoming millionaires from the stocks they had invested in(Brennan). The future was looking bright for many but although much was lavish and seemed
Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.
There was a great boom in consumer goods. Ordinary people were encouraged through advertising and could now afford to buy goods like cars, refrigerators, radios, and among other luxuries that became necessities. These new inventions made home life easier for women and more enjoyable for men. Also, there was this “mass production” method to produce many consumer goods. Assembly lines like, Henry Ford’s factory. Production costs fell quickly, wages rose slowly, and prices remained constant. For example, in 1908 the average cost of the car was $850, but by 1925 that cost had dropped to $290. Many people invested their money into businesses. Some, bought stocks sold on the stock market, when companies did well, so did
This became the stock market crash. This day, October 24, 1929, became known as Black Tuesday. In the crash, people lost ten times as much as they put in. After all that everyone lost there trust in the economy. Many people wanted to take their money out of the bank. Banks were running out of money. Because of the cash shortage many banks got closed down.
During the 1920's millions of Americans began investing in stocks for the first time. They heard about how rich people were getting by investing so they all decided to do it. Many new investors entered the stock market using borrowed money. Stock market prices rose steadily as inflated market demand outpaced increases in the capital value of businesses. Investors began to realize that a large imbalance existed between stock prices and the amount of money needed to back them up, and began to sell. On October 29, 1929, great numbers of people tried to sell their stocks all at once. This created chaos in the accounting of stocks and for brokers. The New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges prices dropped so dramatically that this event became known as the crash of 1929. Millions of investors lost their savings in the crash and many were deeply in debt since