How Did The Great Depression Affect Society

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The Great Depression was one of the economy’s worst stock crashes ever. It lasted from 1929 to 1942, making it a long period of depression. It did not only affect the United States, but also many other countries around the world. Many causes led to the crash, including bank failures, overproduction, underconsumption, and much more. These have many effects on society. The depression showed how to prevent certain banking crises to this day. Years leading up to the crash, the stock market experienced quick growth. Many investors bought overpriced stocks from investors paying only one part of the stock's price and borrowed the rest from their bank. Excessive borrowing led to a sudden collapse in stock prices and wiped out billions of dollars. This is known as “Black Tuesday”. Many Americans fell into debt at this time. Many banks have invested money into the stock market, using their depositor's money. When stock prices began to fall, the banks faced financial difficulties due to losing the value of the money they put into stocks. It led to a panic where many depositors rushed to take money out of their accounts. This led to the failure of thousands of banks. This was just the beginning of the depression. …show more content…

Wages were inconsistent, and companies paid low amounts of money to their workers. As a result, there was overproduction from companies. Overproduction in industries like agriculture and manufacturing led to a rapid increase in the amount of goods, but wages did not rise at the same rate. Too many products were produced, and many people needed help to afford the prices that the companies set. This meant that people couldn't afford to buy all the goods being produced, leading to an unbalanced ratio between supply and