Everybody has heard of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, but do you know what they actually did to people?
In Fall of 1929, many problems in the stock market began coming together, resulting in declining stock prices. On October 18th people began to panic and started selling their shares. October 24th became known as Black Thursday, and 12,894,650 shares were traded. The following week on Black Tuesday (October 29th), 16,410,030 shares were traded resulting in billions of dollars in losses. As trades continued, the economy kept getting worse and worse and eventually led to the Great Depression.
So many people were investing in the stock market because it was seen as an easy way to make money. When it crashed, so many people lost everything the had tied to it, including all their money, cars, even houses. Over 20,000 business were forced to close their doors, resulting in over 12 million people becoming unemployed, and average of 12,000 people every day. 1616 banks closed due to the fact that they had no more money, so millions more lost everything they had. Over 23,000 people committed suicide within a year of the stock market crashing because they believed there was no hope left.
There were some annalist who saw that a crash was coming, and tried to warn people. It was doing so well that everybody thought they were crazy and just ignored it. Imagine how different history might have been if this would have been prevented.
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Good job!