History Critical thinking

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The causes of, and catalysts that signaled Great Depression
In the 1920s, Americans enjoyed a long period of prosperity and happiness due to the existent expansion in the economy. They adjusted to a new lifestyle and found amusement in entertainment. Historians call this period (1919-1929) a Jazz age due to the massive production and consumption of goods, services, and entertainment (music and films). At this time, President Hoover had just been inaugurated and assured people that they were to continue enjoying prosperity. With such a promise, even the great American economists and investors in Wall Street did not know that the worst time in the US economic history was approaching as an economic depression (Corbett et al. 721). In this study, the focus is on the great depression (1929) and its causative factors. Although unseen, the Great depression was signaled by a series of events such as a decline in value of stock exchange traders, but the trance state induced to Americans during the previous Jazz period could not help counter it.
One cause of the decline was the market crash of 1929, during when Americans lost a lot of wealth. According to Corbett et al. (729), the stock market value fell from $64 billion to about $30 billion in less than two months. In a panic, people, as well as the banks, continued to sell their stock. Worse, banks started demanding payment from individuals and businesses they had given loans up…