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I have several questions about the stock market crash of 1929. Can anyone help me?

1. Whan caused the stock market to crash on October 29, 1929? 2. Why did the crash impact such a large number of Americans? 3. How did people who were not invested in the stock market still lose their money or their jobs? 4. What steps did the government take to prevent this from happening again?

Public Comments

1. i was nt born then!
2. www.wikiepedia.com
3. well its funny you ask I'm learning that now in school... 1.)dollar bills became so worthless that people just started using it to warm them 2.)idk 3.)the government only gave jobs to certain people.EX.if you were rich and had a better education than your friend and you both applied for the same job...the boss would pick the one with the better education and the one with the most riches. 4.)they just watched how they spent there money and created more buildings so that people who needed a job could get one...FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT pulled them out of the great depression....thank him
4. If you want to understand the Great Depression in the US, you need to look at the banks and banking system for the explanation. The market crash was dramatic, but it actually recovered within six months. It was, however, the major indicator of a speculative fever loose in the country that made most people reckless with their finances. The federal government did the wrong thing at first, and then did nothing later. The Federal Reserve worried about inflation, and thus tried to restrict the money supply. The bust of the speculation actually produced the opposite result: deflation. There was not enough money to meet demand, especially when ordinary people got worried and tried to withdraw their money form the bank.s By 1932-33 the bottom of the Depression occured with the collapse of thousands of banks. The loss of wealth was a catastrophe, but the requirement to live on a cash basis when there was not enought money (bills in circulation) was fatal to commerce. Aside from the Market crash, Congress itself created a major condition for the Depression by imposing high tariffs on imported goods, thinking that would protect US manufacturers and enrich US exporters. It did the opposite, because every trading parter, then all the world, levied the same high or higher tariff barriers. International trade collapsed and destroyed that part of the economy, from farms to automobiles. The most effective Federal action was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect individual bank depositors from loss during a bank failure. Other banking and financial regulations restricted the opportunites for speculation and appetite for risk-taking in finance.
5. Look, to be honest these are questions without answers. I'll try to give you a little understanding as to why, but I think you need to do your own research. 1. There were MANY causes. The '20s were known as 'The Jazz Age' and 'The Roarin' '20s'. The war had just finished, America was RICH (the Versailles Treaty was to their advantage) and they were happy. The food and goods that America produced was sold to the war struck countries in Europe who were desperate for money as well as labourers. With their new found wealth, the people were making more money, and their main way of doing this was the stock-market. (If you don't know what the stock-market is, find a new thing to research.) Speculation was high, the people had bright expectations for everything, and chances were that if you had shares, you would make money. Eventually though, this had to end. Money isn't actually MADE, it is circulated. When someone earns money, someone else doesn't have it (or at least this is how it should be - some government don't work like this and print far too much money. This was Germany's problem). Shares were rising way too fast, and attempts made half-heartedly by the government to check this were unsuccessful. America began to make more than the world needed, and had goods that no one wanted or needed, in America or overseas. It was about Oct 23rd when the market started to drop, and on the 29th, the bottom fell out of it completely. 2. (and 3 sort of) A LOT of Americans had shares, and those that didn't worked for - or with, or near - those that did. If your employer becomes bankrupt, you're out of a job. This was also the time of the Dust Bowl Drought, (in the West) which effected the farmers and labourers drastically. People couldn't afford anything, jobs didn't pay enough, etc. The people saw the government help nothing. 4. Use the above information to find out yourself. [Maybe they did nothing effective. From Australia's point of view (or at least the large, varied amount of people I have discussed it with) America is headed for recession again. And it's due to drag the rest of the world down too. But that's a different story.]