The Great Depression

When it comes to Dirk Kettlewell, he has a love for business and a love for American history. Throughout time in America, we have seen a number of ups and downs, one of which was the Great Depression. The Great Depression began in the year 1929 and ended in 1941. For the United States, it was the worst economic crisis in history. The Great Depression not only had an impact on America, but the whole world as well.

During the Roaring Twenties, the United States economy had an unprecedented economic boom. Technology was being produced in the masses including electricity, radio, telephone, cars, manufacturing, telecommunications, movie, and in the chemical sectors. Infrastructure was being built to support all of the new technologies being produced. For most of the population, city living was acquired for jobs in these particular industries. Many Americans found themselves with ever increasing amounts of dollars to spend which was then invested into the stock market and deposited into banks. Because the supply of money was rapidly growing, many banks began opening. Roughly, about four to five banks were opened everyday. The Great Depression happened due to a number of reasons. It was created by a combination of a stock market crash, bad banking structure and tight monetary policy. This is why it lasted so long. The stock market peaked on September 3, 1929 with a record close of 381.17. Trading volume was 444k shares. By the end of the same month, the market had fallen by 10% to 343. On Monday, October 29, on 16.4% shares traded, the markets fell 11.5%. By that time, the markets closed at 230.17 down 40% from its all time high. In that single day, investors lost 14 billion dollars and by the end of 1929, 40 billion dollars was lost.