We were contemplating writing here about The Crash, the terrible stock market collapse of October 1929. The greatest economic catastrophe in United States history, and the main precipitating factor in the worldwide Great Depression that was fully as terrible as it sounds, and lasted a decade.
Summarizing The Crash is a challenging subject for a skilled economist, though: and far more so for any of the rest of us. So, to gain an increased understanding of The Crash, and how it applies pressure to our characters, please allow us to humbly defer to this superb summary from Business Insider. It’s succinct, and it’s dead accurate.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-stock-market-crash-of-1929-what-you-need-to-know-2018-4
Here are a few iconic photos from those dark days at the end of October, 1929.
1920s-era ticker tape machine. Seventy years before the Internet, information already moved at the speed of light! The bit-rate was just a tad lower than it is today.
From a distance, ticker tape may look like sheet music, but this is the music of business.
The Roaring Twenties were the greatest economic party the world had ever known. And someone always has to sweep up when the party’s over.
Dateline, October 1929. Chaos in the streets! Specifically, chaos on Wall Street.
Bankrupt investor Walter Thornton trying to sell his luxury roadster just after The Crash. It sure does look like he’s holding a cell phone to his ear, doesn’t it?