Barricades In History: One example of a barricade in history is the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a result of a tons of mini little incidences leading up to one huge bam, Depression. The common thought is that the Great Depression was caused by the major stock market crash in 1929. The market crash of 1929 was a result of panic. After World War I the economy was booming. It was the roaring 20's. People were buying new cars and other products that were being invented.
Americans weren't using cash, to buy these products, everything was bought on credit. Americans were using money that was not theirs, money that was no ones really. It was all superficial. The big problem was americans were using "fake" money to buy stocks in companies to make money that wasn't theirs. The idea of all this money was an illusion, there was no money for most Americans. It was fake, superficial. In September of '29 the market prices had risen to a peak then fell. This led many Americans confidence in the market to slowly dwindle. Leading to investors quickly selling their stock and pulling out. Newspapers were telling people that they should pull out of their stocks because if not they will loose all their money when the stock market finally goes bottom up. People started to fear something that hadn't even happened yet, so what did they do? Exactly what media was telling them to do, they pulled out of their stocks. That is exactly what caused the stock market to crash, everyone pulling out at once. On October 29 the stock market tanked taking with it the confidence of many Americans and shareholders. Everyone tried selling their stock before the prices dropped even lower. "The number of shares dumped that day was a record 16.4 million." (my american history text book). Those that bought stocks on credit had lost all their money and had no way to pay it back. "By mid-November, investors had lost about 30 billion dollars, and amount equal to the amount spent by America on World War I."(my history book) This left millions of Americans with huge debts while others lost most, if not all, their savings. Another huge factor leading to the Great Depression was weak banks. After the stock market crashed people ran to the banks to withdrawal their money, but for some it was too late. The banks no longer had their money, the banks were using their costumers money to buy stocks. The market tanked and all of the money the bank used was gone. The banks didn't have their money insured many americans lost all their life savings. The media was yet again a huge factor in this. Just like they were blowing up the stock market they were also blowing up the rumor of the economy going bad, once people heard that just like the stock market they ran to the bank to get there life savings. For some it was too late, the banks had no more money to give out, they went bankrupt and millions of americans were left broke with no money. Their entire life savings gone faster then they had saved it up. "In 1929, 600 banks closed. By 1933, 11,000 of the nation's 25,000 banks had failed." (my american history text book). The great depression left families broke and hopeless. |