On Friday 24 October 1929 the greatest stock market crash took place in the United States of America. The 1929 Wall Street crash is known as the hugest crash in the history of the USA. This crash had an impact on the USA economically as well as socially.
The Wall Street crash 1929 was a result of the unstable boom in share prices in the preceding years. ‘’The boom in share prices was caused by the irrational exuberance of investors, buying shares on the margin, and over-confidence in the sustainability of economic growth.’’
Many families had been taken away from their homes. Round about 273 000 families had been evicted from their homes by 1932. Most families were lucky enough to have the privilege to move in with other family members, but some were forced to live homeless and live uncomfortably. The enormous amount of evictions led to huge congestion, mostly in places such as cities and towns. The restricted living circumstances harmed families associations and led to the following: abuse; arguments; health issues and more. There were many effects of overcrowding such as stress; and anxiety.
Vagrancy occasioned in many people living in uncomfortable living circumstances and left them with insufficient sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water. Displaced /homeless people starved as poverty hit and lead to poor nutrition which then lead to a number of infections. This factor leads to an enormous amount of health issues. Medical facilities were one of the very things vagrant people could not access and due to malnutrition people were not able to treat diseases. About 33 percent of displaced people died due to poverty. This just indicates how much of an affect poverty had on people especially the homeless.
There was an increase in ethnic discrimination towards immigrants and African Americans in this era. These were the initial people to be dismissed from jobs. The unemployment rate of African Americans and immigrants was twice that of the white Americans in New York. State governments and charities were incompetent to respond to situations and incapable to provide assistance to those in need. Discrimination towards woman workers also occurred. Women were let go from jobs if they were found to be married. Women were deprived from employment in favor of men/male workers. During the early premature 1930’s traditional labour unions fully excluded women.
Countless jobless people also suffered against poverty and felt self-conscious as well as ashamed to socialize. In America poverty levels escalated significantly those living in poverty are defined as those denied an income sufficient to meet their needs. Housing; food; clothing; and water are some of the basic needs the people living in poverty could not afford. The major economic crisis was unemployment. Plus minus 20 000 businesses went insolvent and closed. 25 percent of America’s population became unemployed. A numerous amount of Americans lost their jobs and were not able to feed themselves, support their families or even repay debt.
Close to 10 percent of the USA households had invested in the stock markets which is about 3-4 million people. This left many Americans in debt. Many people lost disoriented their life’s savings. A series of suicides was the biggest reaction to this event.
The Wall Street Stock crash of 1929 fortunately ended on Friday 29 1929, and will be remembered as the biggest crash in the history of the United States of America.
