Rising share prices would simply bring more people into the markets, convinced that it was easy money. In mid-1929, the economy stumbled due to excess production in many industries, creating oversupply. Essentially, companies were able to acquire money cheaply due to high share prices and invest in their own production with the required optimism. By 1933 the value of stock on the New York Stock Exchange was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929. Business houses closed their doors, factories shut down and banks failed.
Although the 1920’s were booming and prosperous, the United States soon entered a prolonged economic depression. In October of 1929, prices in the stock market began an uneven downward slide (Document 2). As investors decided that the previous boom in the stock market was over, they sold more stock, thus causing the declination to increase even further. Many citizens of the United States were greatly affected by this. Families who had invested in stock lost most, if not all, or their life savings.
Everybody wanted to be part of it. Not till October 1929 when the stock market crashed. As more people invested in the stock market they hope to make a quick profit on a speculative rise in stocks (doc 5). According to doc 5 “stock prices were forced up by competitive bidding rather than by any fundamental improvement in business”. This meant people would invest in a company and when the company rises they would sell for profit.
Leuchtenberg sad, “There was no single cause of the crash and ensuing depression,” [Doc2]. Many things as stated earlier contributed to the crash, such as overexpansion of credit, goods, industries and rising rates of unemployment. Many Americans saw the Stock Market as an easy way to create wealth by buying stocks cheap, usually at a margin, and selling for a higher price, hopeful to profit. Buying on margin was the act of paying some money on a stock, but loaning the rest from a bank who expected would be paid back when profit was made. Stocks became more expensive to the point where nobody wanted to buy them because of their extreme price.
This being the cause of prices concerning stocks and shares to increase, to the point that it was nearly impossible to invest in the market. This being a factor in causing companies to terminate their employees swiftly, and if an individual remained employed, their wage decreased dramatically below the minimum wage. Many counterparts had invested in the stocks with loans or borrowed money, and when the market crashed, their share had been utterly wiped out, leaving them with absolutely no money. Individuals who had their money in banks, became skeptical of the banks and started to withdraw their money, to preserve their remaining savings. This, causing the banks to have to take out loans from bigger banks so that they could pay the individuals their money.
Because the stock market crashed, thousands of individual investors lost their jobs. The decline in the value of assets also greatly strained banks and other financial institutions, especially the ones holding stocks. By 1933, nearly half of America's banks had shut down. Unemployment was going sky high. 15 million people were without jobs.
The stock market crash was a huge catastrophe that affected millions of Americans, even those not involved in the stock market, “[The crash] came suddenly, and violently, after holders of stocks had been lulled into a sense of security” (Document 1). After a huge drop in stock prices, many stock owners sold their stock in fear of losing money. The stock market was down $14 million, which even today is a very substantial number. FDR saw the issue in this, and immediately worked to eliminate the issue as well as prevent it for future generations. The Federal Securities Act of 1933, mandating that all companies selling stock provide proof of their company’s worth, and the Securities Exchange Commission of 1934, monitoring the stock market to ensure no one corrupts the stock market, allowed stock to be sold and bought safely once
WWII instead, ended the Great Depression. The stock market was one of the last events to happen before the Great Depression and it was a contributing factor to the Depression. The other factors include Coolidge not giving federal relief to farmers, wealth not being equally distributed, having a large supply, but no demand, and debt from buying on margin. These other factors compiled into the stock market crash.
The Stock market Crash was one of the causes of the Great Depression. One cause of the Stock Market Crash was the stock exchange. This led thousands of Americans to invest in stocks and lose money. Many Americans borrowed money from the bank to buy stocks. Most of the time, people who lost money were unable to pay the banks back their debt; which caused banks to fail.
Such programs helped increase workers’ sense of prosperity and wellbeing in the 1920s. While Americans generally were feeling good about the economy, those who invested in the stock market were overjoyed. The American stock market was performing spectacularly. The general trend in stock prices were high, and the steep rise in stock prices changed the way many people thought about buying stocks. People had the mindset that since the market never seemed to go down in the 1920s, maybe it never would.
The stock market crash sparked the new beginning of an era. An era known as the Great Depression where millions lived in poverty and were being fired from their jobs or at least having their wages cut. Banks all across America and Europe went bankrupt due to many people wanting to withdraw money from the banks. The depression lasted eleven years, at least in America, and in that time, many people died or went homeless, but some people helped others go through the Great Depression. Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, and Will Rogers were some of those people who helped influence society during the depression.
Even though the stock market began to regain some of its losses, by the end of 1930, it just was not enough and America led into the Great Depression. Another cause was Bank Failures many Bank deposits were uninsured and thus as banks failed people simply lost their savings. Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board was another cause. With the stock market crash and the fears of further economic woes, individuals from all classes stopped purchasing
This caused many people to lose their jobs and many businesses to lose their money. According to Tindall & Shi (2012) “from 1929 to 1933, U.S economic output dropped almost 27 percent. The unemployment rate by 1932 was 23 percent” (1082). This shows how much of an impact the stock market had on people. It caused many people to lose their jobs and people were losing money also, this caused many suffering among people.
So when the market high, everyone pulls out to make money and pay off loans, it sends the market
The stock exchange slammed, banks dispossessed, organizations bankrupted and cash devalued. This affected the people of America to a great extent. So these mistakes are to be acted upon soon before it causes much more trouble. By making this mistake, people learned the valuable experience of managing money wisely and buying stocks