Known also as Black Tuesday, October 29th left stockholders shattered with recorded losses reaching $40 billion dollars (Kelly, n.d.). Many banks and financial institutions began collapsing which led to irretrievable, uninsured deposits and savings. Fearing further loss, people began spending less which led to a decrease in production and an increase in unemployment. As companies began to fail, the government devised the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in order to protect American businesses. The Tariff placed high taxes on imports leading to a decline in international trade.
This means that the prices for stock were too high, far higher than they were really worth, then they fell drastically. People who had borrowed money to buy high-priced stocks (intending to sell the stocks at a profit and repay lenders), went bankrupt. That’s further expounding on what I said about buying on margin. Black Tuesday also marks the beginning of the great depression (Regan3). Living conditions during this time were unsanitary and horrible.
Then finally on October 29,1929th the stock market crashed, because no one was buying and this directly led to the Great Depression. After the Stock market crashed not even 2 months later, the stock holders had lost more than forty billion dollars. Though the market had once again began to come of its losses back by the end of 1930, it was not enough and America entered what we now know as The Great Depression. After the stock market
The crisis also caused a decline in exports and productions as the demand for exports collapsed and the world trade slumped for Germany. This also concluded in huge unemployment and lowering wages. The result of the German industry was they could no longer pay it’s way. Without over sea’s loads and with its export trade falling bankruptcies increased dramatically. This couldn’t have come at a better time for the Nazi’s as because of this crisis the decline in support of the Weimar Republic decreased with the lack of confidence and underlying economic problems within Germany, he
In these winter months there were signs of the country’s morale and unity breaking, it was not helped when Germany was hit with an influenza epidemic, wiping out 20-40 million, the resistance to the disease was lowered due to decline in living conditions. Inflation was also a problem facing Germany after the war, the people were forced to work longer hours, but wages still fell below the inflation rate. As a result of these effects social discontent grew, and anger was expressed at sharks of the industry who appeared to be making money from the war. The
Consumption skyrocketed as Americans relished in the heyday of western capitalism. The environment that emerged from this climate helped to bring about an “orgy of speculation” sending Americans scrambling for easy profits in the bull market of the 1920s. However through excessive leveraging, borrowing on margin, and a restrictive economic policy, the boom soon turned to bust. The belief that high price levels could be maintained indefinitely was proved drastically wrong in what will forever be remembered as one of the worst economic disasters in the annals of American History. What was set in motion in late October 1929 can be traced back to the brewing market conditions and economic environment of the very decade it which the crash took place.
The middle class was nearly non-existent. This occurs often in the world, but the Great Depression was the worst economic downfall in the history of the U.S. It spread and affected all of the industrialized world. The depression began with Black Tuesday, and lasted for nearly a decade. According to Paul Alexander Gusmorino, the main cause of the drastic downfall was the combination of unequal distribution of wealth and the extensive stock market speculation that took place in the later years of that decade.
In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is caused by a multitude of factors including the breakdown of the market, bankruptcy, high/ hyper inflation or factors such as high unemployment. They are considered bad for an economy because of the large scale effects and problems which it causes. Economically if a market breaks down then all sectors of society are hit. It makes the standard of living for the masses suffer.
It devastated not only in the U.S economy and but worldwide. Before the crash, the stock market experienced an all-time high that the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high 381.2. By November, it plummets to as a low 199 and with this low, it caused stocks to lose value about 90 percent. In lieu of the crash of this created a great depression, and it was the longest and most severe depression every experienced by the industrialized Western world. “The fundamental changes impacted the economic institutions in example, banks and macroeconomic policy and economic theory” .
Crop prices fell by over fifty %. People went hungry because so much food was produced that production became unprofitable. Others were unemployed because they had produced more than could be sold. Huge numbers of Americans had their lives upset by the Depression. Tens of thousands of migrant farm workers travelled the nation looking for employment.