The Great Depression was a period in the 1930s where America suffered a major economic crisis. People had trouble having enough money to survive the day, and had to take food shifts. It was a very rough period in our history, and historians have been debating for years over one question: What caused the Great Depression? Some argue it was the banking crisis where people couldn’t pay back their loans, making the banks broke. Others say it was unequal distribution of wealth among families throughout our society . People even say it was the stock market crash that put everyone in debt! There were a number of causes for this, and they all were in a chain ultimately leading to the Great Depression. What, in theory, was the start of the Great …show more content…
In an article “Everybody Ought to be Rich” written in 1929 by John T. Raskob, it states “If he invests in good common stocks and allows the dividends...to accumulate, he will at the end of twenty years have...an income from investments of around four hundred dollars a month. He will be rich. And because anyone can do that I am firm in my belief that anyone not only can be rich but ought to be rich.” Raskob is saying that if someone invests in good common stocks, naturally he will end up rich. But that’s assuming these stocks go well. With the stock market crash, anyone with this plan would’ve failed and been basically broke and in debt. In an issue of the New York Times published October 29, 1929, the headline reads “Stock Prices Slump $14,000,000,000 In Nation-Wide Stampede To Unload; Bankers To Support Market Today” Millions people invested in these stocks, and with them slumping $14,000,000,000 then everyone who invested best be in debt, broke, or fairly close to broke. With all these people investing in the stocks, they were taking loans from the bank to invest in stocks. With this stock market crash, people couldn’t pay back their loans, leading to the banking