Oliver M

CRASHED e c o n o m y

Featured Article

INTERVIEW WITH

Oliver Grant Moshell Author of the 2017 graphic novel "Alleyways"

1930sF block

Stock Crash and Effects Find out how the Stock Market Crash of 1929 affected American life.

19

STOCK CRASH AND EFFECTS Written by Oliver Moshell

In a crowded street within New York City, the streets are littered with both children and adults who were evicted from their homes. Many will be huddled beneath whatever shelter they can find. Others may be looking for anything that can serve as a shelter.

Because of the sudden market crash, many people lost their jobs. They could no longer pay to live wherever they did, and were forced to move to unsatisfactory locations, which did indeed force some people to live on the streets without shelter. The Great Depression brought an end to the roaring 20s, saw the failure of our economy, and negatively impacted the quality of American daily life.

The End of the Roaring 20s As stated before, the Great Depression ended the roaring 20s. The time was named the ‘roaring 20s’ because of America’s doubled wealth and growing economy. During this time, the majority of people put their savings into stocks, and because of this, the stock market expanded at an alarming rate.

19

Throughout the 20s, unemployment rose and production declined, which caused stock prices to be left higher than they should have been. In an addition to this, wages were quite low and consumer debt was quickly raising. There was agricultural struggle because of drought and the lowering of food prices. Many banks had an excess of large loans that were unable to be liquidated. Despite consumer spending slowing and unsold goods piling, stock prices still rose, eventually reaching a limit that

The stock market crashed when the prices reached their peak

couldn’t do the stuff. In the autumn of 1929, investors started to sell overpriced shares, and only 5 days later, around 16 million shares had already been traded. Many shares became completely worthless, and the investors whose stocks were bought with borrowed money were wiped out entirely. Spending and investment rates dropped significantly, leading factories and the like to fire many workers and decrease production.

Those who stayed employed faced extremely low wages, leading to many

people forced to live homeless or in small, crowded apartments. The stock market crash was only the beginning of the multiple effects it had on America.

The Failure of the Economy Because of the crash, the economy began to fail. A large percentage of America was homeless, and as hard as they tried to find work, most people were unsuccessful. Industrial production depleted by 50%, and farmers didn’t have the money to harvest, and therefore had to leave crops to rot, cause people elsewhere to starve. One year after the crash, 4 million Americans were unable to find jobs. Two years after the crash, the amount of unemployed Americans rose by 2 million. The amount of homeless individuals was constantly growing.

In 1930, investors demanded cash deposits, forcing their banks to liquidate loans, leading to banking panics. 2 more bank runs came about during the following 2 years. In 1933, most banks had closed. Because of the economy’s failure, life in

People were left completely jobless, doing everything in their power to find employment

America became increasingly harder.

The Impact on American Life Due to job loss and bank failure, daily life for Americans was much more difficult than it was before. As was stated previously, many people lost their jobs and had trouble finding another. In addition, people stopped earning enough money to live in homes, and were forced to live homeless.Once again, stated previously, 4 million Americans were unemployed, which raised to 6 million a year later. The people who were employed got extremely low wages. Many people lived either homeless or in small, crowded apartments with many other peoplesometimes people they didn’t even know, or didn’t know well.

Because of the lower production, people had to conserve everything they had. All the way down to only taking one square of toilet paper. Everything had to be conserved, because factories were producing items extremely

slow, and no one automatically had enough money to buy necessities.

Also stated earlier, people were starving. Farmers couldn’t harvest, so crops couldn’t be sent to markets and other places. The Great Depression changed the way people thought about their daily life.

From the roaring 20s, so full of wealth and thriving economy, right to the stock market crash, along with unemployment and homelessness for many, the Great Depression was a challenging time for Americans.

Many people kept habits they were forced to learn because of the great depression, like conserving the most generic, everyday things. There are reports theorizing the stock market will crash once again this year. Many claiming that the US will go into a financial crisis due to the current president. Will we perhaps have a second Great Depression in 2017?

Works Cited History.com Staff.

"The Great Depression."

History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 05 June 2017.

History.com Staff.

"Stock Market Crash of 1929." History.com.

A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 05 June 2017. http://cdn.history.co m/sites/2/2013/11/stoc k-market-crash-of1929-newspaperA.jpeg https://s-mediacacheak0.pinimg.com/origin als/cf/9d/e4/cf9de4dc0 d4df9a9ce938738f179d b99.jpg

Read about Hoovervilles next page