There were many factors to the devastating crash of the stock market which we know of today as the Great Depression. During what was considered the "roaring 20's," businesses were booming, and everything started changing both socially and economically. One major cause to this upset was the use of credit, and people got too comfortable using the stock market. Stocks are a piece of a company that a citizen can purchase and own, and depending on whether the market goes up or down you either gain money or lose it. Some think of this concept as gambling. The main goal for whoever is purchasing a stock is to buy low and sell high. When you officially own a stock for a company, you have the option to sell it whenever you want to earn a profit from what the company is making. If you were smart at this time, and saw that the business's market was rapidly increasing, you would sell your stock and earn the highest you possibly can. This became a problem, because everyone saw what success was happening from this, and started buying tons of stocks. Eventually this came crashing down and is now referred to as "The Great Depression." .
People began getting too comfortable with the stock market. They would risk all the money they had for a chance to eventually earn more. Since most were successful, they started depending their lives on it. Some families would quit their jobs and risk all they have at an opportunity for a better income. The big problem with this, is that if the stock market were to go down, the families could lose everything they have and this risk in this case was not worth it. After the stock market crashed the unemployment rate went from 1.8 percent to a devastating 20.3 percent (Historical Statistics of the United States). This ruined the lives of most citizens who didn't even get involved with the stock market.
One major breakthrough in society is the use of credit. If you didn't have the money to purchase a product, you could simply use credit and pay it back in installment plans.
