The Great Depression The Great Depression was the time period in which the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world took place. The Great Depression started on October 29, 1929 and lasted until 1939. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crashed, which sent the stock market into a panic and also wiped out millions of investors. The loss was very shocking yet it was just a portion of the loss that was in the next 3 years. The big businesses, the wealthy Americans, and banks are to blame for America’s financial standing at the end of 1932. The big businesses made big mistakes that lead to the Great Depression. The big businesses overproduced agricultural …show more content…
By the end of the 1920s, the richest one percent of Americans owned one third of all American wealth, all of this wealth was in the hands of a few, which limited economic growth. The rich Americans had a habit of not spending money, instead they saved. Which wasn’t good because, when the money was spent, the money would have been put back into the economy and would be spread among the middle and lower classes. Also the middle and lower class would purchase goods/services, which would fuel the economy and keep it running. But because the middle class didn’t have enough wealth, the middle class purchased automobiles and household appliances on installment plans, thus causing their debt to increase. Installment plans allowed people to buy things that they could not afford or pay for. The company that owns the product, would give the product to the buyer first, and then every month the customer would have to pay a certain amount of money until the item was paid off. Once the lower and middle class stopped spending money, the limited spending by the one percent of rich Americans was not enough to keep the economy running. Which made the Great Depression take