Great depression 8

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

download word file, 8 pages 0.0

"The Great Depression of the 1930's was a worldwide phenomenon composed an infinite number of separate but related events." The Great Depression was a time of poverty and despair caused by many different events. Its hard to say what caused this worldwide depression because it's all based on opinion as opposed to factual data. There are many contributing factors but not one specific event can be pin pointed for starting the depression. It is believed that some events contribute more than others-such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was in the majorities opinion, a long and overdue crash that was bound to happen. Prices sky-rocketed so high that when they reached what was believed to be it's all time high, most people sold their gaining stocks for a profit. So many people sold their stocks at a rapid rate that the corporations were unable to pay the shareholders.

Speculation arouse months before the crash when Roger Babson made his speech at the annual National Business Conference which he said "..... Sooner or later a crash is coming which will take the leading stocks and cause a decline from 60 to 90 points in the Dow Jones Barometer." This and many others speeches like this scared people into selling there stocks before the inevitable would happen. This was a leading causes that assisted the Great Depression become one of the bleakest and most studied events in the history of our country: yet not the only cause.
