5 Working families in the late 1920s were able to buy items once considered luxuries such as refrigerators when buying on credit Can you imagine waiting in line for food or a place to sleep Or dust storms that buried your home in dirt These were common occurrences during the Great Depression In 1928 a growing number of Americans were wealthy and successful More people had money to buy cars and modern appliances When they did not have cash available they bought on credit On the surface it seemed the United States NOSE DIVE CHAPTER ONE
In the late 1920s many farmers were no longer m a k i n g m o n e y future was bright and prosperous But many factors would soon lead to the crash of the US economy For one unemployment was becoming a problem Factories were creating new products faster and better than ever before New manufacturing methods required skilled labor Workers who were not skilled lost their jobs In some parts of the country unemployment slowly began to rise US farmers were suffering too Farmers had exported many of their products to Europe during 6
World War I 1914 1918 This had provided them with extra profit Some farmers had borrowed money during the war to buy more land hoping to make even more money But after the war Europe no longer needed US goods Prices on farm products began to drop Between 1920 and 1921 prices fell by 40 percent Many farmers could not pay their loans and lost their land Buying and Selling Stocks The stock market crash in 1929 showed the financial problems of the United States Buying and selling on the stock market increased during the 1920s With so many people looking for ways to invest their money businesses saw an opportunity Big companies began selling stocks in their businesses A stock is a share of the value of a company People who bought stocks were called investors or shareholders They hoped to make a profit on their investments by selling them for more than they had paid 7
