What Would Happen During The Great Depression

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.

The Roaring Twenties is known as an age of parties, jazz, and overspending. After World War I, the optimistic American people reacted by celebrating and overspending. They purchased new appliances such as cars, radios and refrigerators; they purchased luxury items like clothes and invested in stocks. Their new attitude towards the booming American economy was carefree, leading to a series of events. First the stock market crashed. Next, the banks failed. Then, companies laid off employees who were unable to make the payments on the items they purchased. Tariffs and droughts further complicated the situation. This decade became known as the Great Depression, because the economic setbacks impacted everyone and everything. But the question is “Why did Americans lose so much money in such a short period of time?” One answer is, the failing stock market. A second is unregulated banking systems which allowed for buying on margin. Third, the lifestyle following World War I was too materialistic. The Great Depression was caused by Americans failing to responsibly manage their money.

Many people believe the Stock Market crash and the Great Depression are one in the same. In the nineteen twenties the Dow Jones went from sixty to four hundred. People became instant millionaires. Trading became America’s favorite pastime and a quick way to get rich. There were Americans mortgaging their home and investing their life savings in stock such as ford. However, there were many fake companies that formed to deceive the inexperience investors. Many investors did not believe that a crash was possible; they all thought the market would always go up.

The Great Depression was a devastating time for many Americans. From 1929 to 1932, the US experienced an economic downturn that was calamitous to the lives of many people. Millions upon millions of Americans lost everything when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. After exiting an era that left people living a life of luxury, the stock market crash came as a surprise. As a result of the stock market crash, many became unemployed and many families were being forced to close their businesses. Although there were many factors that contributed to the cause of the Great Depression, the three main causes were The Stock Market Crash of 1929, high unemployment, a decrease in consumer purchases due to being “stuffed with stuff” during the roaring twenties.

In 1929 the Stock Market crashed was said to have “ushered in” the Great Depression. After Wall Street and the Stock Market crash of 1929, the banks began to fail. By 1933 over half of the banks in the United States had failed and went out of business. The economy came to a full stop as businesses could no longer access credit lines to purchase inventory, checks were no longer accepted as currency due to the multitude of failing financial institutions which led to an unemployment rate reported to be as much as 30 percent of the available workforce. (“First measured century: Timeline,” n.d.)

The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.

In 1933 thousands of banks closed. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. Also, 90,000 businesses went bankrupt. This situation lead to people going homeless. They also went without food and water. Some even sold their valuables for money to be able to afford their basic necessities.

On October 29, “Black Tuesday,” The Wall Street market crashed and it marked the beginning of the depression. An unequal handling of wealth and income was a major cause of the depression. With more than half the nation’s people living at or below the standard income level, there was not enough money being put into the market to maintain the economy. 200 of the largest corporations controlled half the corporate wealth and their power led to prices being kept high rather than being determined by price and demand. Government policies failed to enforce antitrust laws and regulate banking and the stock market.

October 24, 1929 would soon become a day that would be etched in history as Black Thursday. Although there is no one true cause or event that can take blame for the fall of our nation’s finances, the stock market crashing is indisputably the root of the problem that we now call the Great Depression. Prior to this day, the economy and national profits seemed to be on an endless spiral being pushed to the top. The occurrence and aftermath of World War One contributed to our advancement of a seemingly perfect financial state as a country and as individuals. However, after the crash, businesses began to close, including banks and other financial establishments. This, in turn, left no producers or processors for farmers and ranchers to bargain with,

This time was known as the Great Depression, where many people lost their savings and jobs. The economy at this time period was described as stagnant. Many businesses and industries slowed down production(In the 1930s more cars were scrapped than were made) and some even came to a complete stop, having to shut down entirely. There were more than 12 million who lost their job only by 1932, a 22% incline of unemployment rate from the previous decade. Hundreds of thousands of people became homeless, as the jobs that were still around had low average wages.

Consumer spending came to a grinding halt due to a lack of confidence in the economy, and businesses were forced to slow down production and construction. Companies were not getting enough profit, and could not pay a high number of employees. By the end of 1932, 25% of Americans were out of a job. As the crisis deepened, investors lost confidence in the banking system as well. Panic ensued, and when record numbers of people sought to withdraw deposits, banks had insufficient reserves and were forced to close. In the 1932 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide victory. His administration immediately set to work to fix America's problems. The collective reforms of Roosevelt’s administration were called the New Deal. In the first years of his presidency, FDR: created government entities that oversaw stock trading, got Congress to pass legislation that reorganized banks, ended Prohibition, signed several bills that improved conditions for workers and more. Despite great efforts, the Great Depression persisted. In

In the 1920s, American economy had a great time. The vast majority of Americans in 1929 foresaw a continuation of the dizzying economic growth that had taken place in most of the decade. However, the prices of stock crested in early September of 1929. The price of stock fell gradually during most of September and early October. On “Black Tuesday” 29 October 1929, the stock market fell by forty points. After that, a historically great and long economic depression started and lasted until the start of the Second World War. The three causes of the Great Depression are installment buying, uneven distribution of wealth and the irrational behavior in the stock market.

The great depression is an immense tragedy that took millions of people in the United States from work. It marked the beginning of involvement from the government to the country’s economy and also the society as a whole. After almost a decade of prosperity and optimism, the US was now exposed to a period of despair. The day when this happened is referred to as Black Tuesday, and it is the day when the stock market crashed. That was the official date when the Great Depression started. The stock market prices crashed to an extent that there was no hope for them to rise again. A long period of panic struck, and there was darkness in terms of stock market prices. Many people tried as they could to sell their stock, but, unfortunately, no one was

Many people speculate that the stock market crash of 1929 was the main cause of The Great Depression. In fact, The Great Depression was caused by a series of factors, and the effects of the depression were felt for many years after the stock market crash of 1929. By looking at the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, reduction of purchasing, American economic policy with Europe, and drought conditions, it becomes apparent that The Great Depression was caused by more than just the stock market crash. The effects were detrimental beyond the financial crisis experienced during this time period.

America’s Great Depression is believed as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ending in 1941 with America’s entry into World War II. In order to fully comprehend the repercussions and devastating effects of the Crash of 1929, it is important to examine the factors that contributed to the catastrophic event which led to The Great Depression. The Great Depression was the worst economic slump in U.S. history, and it spread to most of the industrialized world. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s, and the