Assigned Blog #1

Causes for the Stock Market Crash:

There a few causes to why the stock market crashed. The economy expanded rapidly, and companies were expanding. In October of 1929, the stock market went into the negative direction. Many companies were hit hard by the decrease in consumer spending. The panic selling on those few days in October of 1929 that caused very sharp price declines in common stock. Panic selling was what brought the market to the ground. The simple and easy laws of supply and demand were in place. When no one was left willing to buy stock and everyone was trying to sell them at the same time; the ,arket had nowhere to go but down.

Causes for the Great Depression:

1. Stock Market Crash of 1929

On October 29, 1929 was one of the major causes that led to the Great Depression. Two months after the crash, stockholders lost about $40 billion dollars. Even though the stock market began to get back some of its losses, by the end of 1930, it was not enough and America entered what we call the Great Depression.

2. Bank Failures

During the 1930s over 9,000 banks failed. People lost their savings because banks were unisured. The surviving banks, were unsure of the economic situation and were concerned for their own survival. They stopped creating new loans because the situation led to less and less expenditures.

3. Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board

With the stock market crash, individuals from every class stopped purchasing items. Then, this led to a reduction in the amount of items produced. This then means a reduction in the workforce. As people lost their jobs, they weren't able to keep up with item they had bought on credit and their items were taken back. The unemployment rate rose which led to an even bigger situation

4. American Economic Policy with Europe

When businesses began failing, the government created the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to try and help protect American companies. The Tariff charged a high tax on imports, which led to less trade between America and many other foreign countries.

5. Drought Conditions

This wasn't a direct cause of the Great Depression, the drought that had occurred in the Mississippi Valley in 1930. Farmers couldn't pay their taxes or other debts and had to sell their farms for no profit at all. The area was nicknamed "The Dust Bowl."

Men in the streets:

During the Great Depression, when the men became unemployed. They went to the streets trying to get jobs eating at soup kitchens, and slept on the ground. They were embarassed because they didn't have jobs. The men didn't want to go home to see their children starving, or have their wives take over their life. I think they shoul of gone home to their families not slept on the streets.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1569.html

Text Book

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm

http://www.money-zine.com/Investing/Stocks/Stock-Market-Crash-of-1929/

Blogs

Assigned Blog #1

Comments