1929 Stock Market Crash Was Financial Crisis For The Ages

One of the best piece of writings on the subject is found here at this site.  I am going to comment on a lot of this information, but for starters, here is a snippet as to what happened to the Stock Market in 1929 that led to The Great Depression.

“The Great Depression began in 1929 when the entire world suffered an enormous drop in output and an unprecedented rise in unemployment. World economic output continued to decline until 1932 when it clinked bottom at 50% of its 1929 level. Unemployment soared, in the United States it peaked at 24.9% in 1933. It remained above 20% for two more years, reluctantly declining to 14.3% by 1937. It then leapt back to 19% before its long-term decline. Since most households had only one income earner the equivalent modern unemployment rates would likely be much higher. Real economic output (real GDP) fell by 29% from 1929 to 1933 and the US stock market lost 89.5% of its value.”

Look at that last statement! That is an incredible statistic.  The financial meltdown we are in the midst of right now has raped the stock market of nearly 45% of its value at its peak last year.  Remember, though, our demise has happened in about 6 months.

It really accelerated on September 15th, 2008, when possibly the worst Treasury Secretary in our history, Hank Paulson, decided to unilaterally let Lehman Brothers fail.  This single item was the atomic blast heard around the financial market world.  It put our market in a tailspin and possibly much worse…

I like this site and will undoubtedly come back to it for quotes and other ideas in explorering this topic.