A stock market crash, that is.
Despite the immense wealth and prosperity that has come to personify the decade, October 29, 1929 marks Black Tuesday. A day that will live on in history as the infamous beginning of one of the largest economic struggles that the United States has ever faced.
So what was the cause of such a catastrophe? Well in order to understand, we must have a mini economics lesson. First of all: what is a stock market crash? It is a sudden, dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. In english, that means everyones money that was placed in stocks disappears. And considering that everyone and their dog has been investing in stocks for the past nine years, that's a LOT of money that just went down the tube.
It is more than ironic that the thing that brought us such economic stability is the same thing that is now making our economy a living hell. With the technological advances we've made this past decade with radio, aviation, automobiles and telephones, people have been investing their money in the companies that pioneered these techonologies. And the way to do that is through stocks. So when the Wall Street Stock Market had the largest crash of the century, a panic like no other broke out. People trying to sell their shares to ensure economic stability.
This crisis gives whole new meaning to the phrase
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
By: Natalie Lewis
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