The stock market crash impacted the U.S. in a very negative way. Banks were closing, mines and factories were shut down, businesses cut back on production and found themselves without customers forcing them out of business. By 1930 between 6 and 7 million Americans were unemployed. Unemployment meant fewer customers; a decrease in customers caused further cutbacks in production; these cutbacks, in turn, resulted in more unemployment and by 1932 nearly 12 million Americans were out of work.
The depression affected all social classes; upper, middle, and lower. Many well-to-do Americans watched their fortunes, invested in stocks or businesses, disappear. The industrial workers and farmers suffered the most, though. Most wage earners had no savings to tide them over a period of unemployment. Families forced out of their homes move to makeshift huts that they built on unused land at the edges of the city, using scrap lumber, packing boxes and ridged iron. For the farmers the depression came as a final blow. Most farm families had never shared fully in the prosperity of the twenties. As their incomes shrank, more and more farmers lost their farms. In some Midwestern states desperate farmers used force to prevent sheriffs from foreclosing mortgages on their farms.
"How Did the Stock Market Crash of 1929 Effect the U.S?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110321182133AAuRda7>;.
The crash began on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929. The stock market fell 11% during the day. It regained, to close just 2% for the day. On Black Monday, October 28, the market fell another 13%. On the next day, Black Tuesday, the market fell another 11% and 16 million shares were sold that day. The crash led to the Great depression. During the Depression, unemployment rose to 25%, wages fell 42% economic growth fell 50%, and world trade plummeted 65%. That’s partly because prices fell 10% a year, thanks to deflation.
Amadeo, Kimberly. "Stock Market Crash of 1929." About.com US Economy. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/Stock-Market-Crash-of-1929.htm>;.
This is a Philadelphia newspaper advertising the crash.
This is what the huts outside of the city were like.
Comments
Good summary but no personal thoughts!