The Great Depression
By: Jack • Essay • 499 Words • December 28, 2009 • 950 Views
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There were many primary causes for The Great Depression, Unequal distribution of money to the economy,
and the stock market speculation, and much more which all played a major factor for The Great Depression.
The Great Depression impacted everyone, it impacted different people of all kinds of backgrounds.
It was a low time for Americans in the 1920's, and for other countries also.
One of the causes were Uneven Prosperity, 0.1% of families made 100,000$ a year, and 80% had zero savings. 200 companies controlled 49% of all U.S industry
which caused uneven prosperity. Although the economy was booming in the 1920's most purchasing was done by credit.
U.S wealth was not spread evenly and the economy was unstable. The U.S. economy was booming in the 1920’s and Uneven prosperity made recovery difficult.
People were buying thousands of shares of stock for as little as 10% down. Then people lost ten times as much as they put in.For the economy to function properly,
total demand must equal total supply. In the 1920's there was an oversupply of goods. 60 percent of cars and 80 percent of radios were bought on credit. The U.S.
economy was also reliant upon luxury spending and investment from the rich to stay afloat during the 1920's. The significant problem with this reliance was that luxury
spending and investment were based on the wealth's confidence in the U.S. economy. imbalance of wealth lead to large market crashes.
Black Tuesday, 1929. People saw stocks were actually falling. People hurried to get out of stocks and minimize their losses. As this happened, more people did the
same which exacerbated the situations. On Black Tuesday, a record16.4 million shareds were sold.