The Main Causes Of The Great Depression
The Great Depression lasted 10 years, from 1929 to 1939. It caused major panic and wiped out millions of investors.
In the United States The Great Depression started soon after the stock market crashed. On October 24, 1929, the stock market bubble finally burst, as investors began dumping shares. A total of 12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as “Black Thursday.” Five days later, on “Black Tuesday” about 16 million shares were traded after more panic swept Wall Street. Millions of shares ended up worthless. Those investors who had bought stocks “on margin” (with borrowed money) were wiped out completely. The downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and construction and begin …show more content…
By 1933, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and almost half of the country's banks had failed. Despite assurances from President Herbert Hoover and other leaders the crisis would run its course, and matters continued to get worse over the next three years. Also by 1930, 4 million Americans looking for work could not find it, that number had risen to 6 million in 1931. Bread lines, soup kitchens and rising numbers of homeless people became more common in America. Farmers couldn’t afford to harvest their crops, so they were forced to leave the crops rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved. In the fall of 1930, the first of four waves of banking panics began. The first was, large numbers of investors lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate (close down or disband) loans in order to supplement their insufficient cash reserves up front. By early 1933 thousands of banks had closed their doors. So, Hoover’s administration tried supporting failing banks and other institutions with government loans. When the Great Depression began, the United States was the only industrialized country in the world without some form of unemployment insurance or social security, In 1935 , Congress passed the
In the United States The Great Depression started soon after the stock market crashed. On October 24, 1929, the stock market bubble finally burst, as investors began dumping shares. A total of 12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as “Black Thursday.” Five days later, on “Black Tuesday” about 16 million shares were traded after more panic swept Wall Street. Millions of shares ended up worthless. Those investors who had bought stocks “on margin” (with borrowed money) were wiped out completely. The downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and construction and begin …show more content…
By 1933, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and almost half of the country's banks had failed. Despite assurances from President Herbert Hoover and other leaders the crisis would run its course, and matters continued to get worse over the next three years. Also by 1930, 4 million Americans looking for work could not find it, that number had risen to 6 million in 1931. Bread lines, soup kitchens and rising numbers of homeless people became more common in America. Farmers couldn’t afford to harvest their crops, so they were forced to leave the crops rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved. In the fall of 1930, the first of four waves of banking panics began. The first was, large numbers of investors lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate (close down or disband) loans in order to supplement their insufficient cash reserves up front. By early 1933 thousands of banks had closed their doors. So, Hoover’s administration tried supporting failing banks and other institutions with government loans. When the Great Depression began, the United States was the only industrialized country in the world without some form of unemployment insurance or social security, In 1935 , Congress passed the