Wall Street Crash of 1929 - 80 Years Ago This Month

[Chas]

The 80th anniversary of "Black Thursday, Black Friday, Black Monday and Black Tuesday" is coming up at the end of the month.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading on it, and thinking about the stories that my mum & dad used to tell about living through it. It certainly does induce me to ask the question: "how would this contemporary society cope with something as catastrophic?" I would suggest that we would not be able to cope as well as our ancestors did.

We may yet find out....

 

[Lamplight]

I'm inclined to believe today's society would have a terribly difficult time coping with similar conditions. As a society, we've grown pretty soft...and extravagant.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

We did deal with it better than they did, we had practice.

We did deal with a financial fiasco every bit as big as the '29 crash. It happened about a year ago. We did better this time. The proof is that you don't see bread lines. Now it's true that it took a few years for the Great Depression to mature, and we may yet see new disasters, but I don't see (Geez, I hate to says this, I might jinx things!) a Great Depression for the 21st century likely to rival the one during which my mother and father grew up.

 

[Shangas]

Let's just hope that, come the 29th, history doesn't see fit to repeat itself.

If it does...

*Searches for his sandwich board with skills and age written on it*

 

[HadleyH]

We may yet find out....

Heaven forbid!!!




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[Carlisle Blues]

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lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Theoretically, Roosevelt's administration established safeguards which were designed to prevent another "Great Depression", however, some of those safeguards have been circumvented or not contemplated by the those safeguards.

From my perspective the US and many other economies are based on the "mixed capitalism" model. As such, the economy is manipulated by adjusting intrest rates, aiding corporations, and providing social programs such as welfare/federal assistance, for example.

The "mixed capitalism" model can only be accomplished by the cooperation of many different entities in the public and private sectors. A true symbiotic relationship is formed; like that formed between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs, for example.

In doing the public is told to use credit cards, borrow against their homes and the next great financial risk to take.

The public has been "instructed" that a good economy is one where you do the aforementioned. That is simply being bullish on the economy. It keeps things going; for example for every trade on the stock market - a commission gets paid, the support staff is assured that their pay checks will be covered. The company who's stock was traded, hopefully, will become more valuable and the person who purchased the stock will get a dividend.

Unfortunately, when the very essence of the market which is trust and judgment has been compromised by the mortgage industry(sub prime lenders) mortgage brokers, Wall street etc. then we wind up where we are right now. In a state of total confusion and insurmountable debt.

The spillover effect is seemingly insurmountable and will take many years to over come.

Then comes the jaundiced view that a recession is when your neighbor is jobless and a depression is when you are jobless.

However as a society I believe we are handing things better than our forefathers only due to those laws, regulations, administrative agencies and lessons borne from the Great Depression.

 

[nulty]

We were discussing this today at work. In light of the Dow hitting 10,000 yesterday and a few of the larger Investment banks showing profits and still paying out big bonuses.

The question of the bailout came up and if it was the right thing seeing how maybe Wall st hasn't learned a thing. Capitalism is a wonderful thing alright but it has no stop gap for greed.

So as not to wander to far off topic, we should consider what the state of things would be if the bailout had not occurred and some of the companies that were teetering had been allowed to be mothballed. Would we now have a scenario that equated that of 1929?

When the crash occurred some of my first thoughts went directly to those Grandparents Aunts and Uncles that came of age in the depression and what I could learn from them. I wish to always honor their memory and do them well for what they had to endure so I could live as I do. How will our society change and will we be as respected by our children and future generations as our elders are by us for how we dealt with the present and possibly near future difficult state of affairs ? [huh]

 

[Dixon Cannon]

My Dad's 28th birthday was four days away -02 November, 1929 - and the "Crash" changed his life forever. From 'Jay Gatsby' to vacuum cleaner salesman! He heard the Governor of New York speaking on the radio and became a New Dealer overnight. The 'Crash', the Depression, the New Deal shaped the remainder of this life.

-dixon cannon

 

[draws]

We were discussing this today at work. In light of the Dow hitting 10,000 yesterday and a few of the larger Investment banks showing profits and still paying out big bonuses.

The question of the bailout came up and if it was the right thing seeing how maybe Wall st hasn't learned a thing. Capitalism is a wonderful thing alright but it has no stop gap for greed.

So as not to wander to far off topic, we should consider what the state of things would be if the bailout had not occurred and some of the companies that were teetering had been allowed to be mothballed. Would we now have a scenario that equated that of 1929?

When the crash occurred some of my first thoughts went directly to those Grandparents Aunts and Uncles that came of age in the depression and what I could learn from them. I wish to always honor their memory and do them well for what they had to endure so I could live as I do. How will our society change and will we be as respected by our children and future generations as our elders are by us for how we dealt with the present and possibly near future difficult state of affairs ? [huh]

Nulty, very well said.

I have also thought about the trials of our parents and grand-parents during the great depression. There was noone there to bail them out and the highest priority of life was shelter and food and other basic necessities.

I am one generation removed from having experienced it, but it is on my mind nontheless. Clawing out of the dirt when there is no-one to "bail" us out was a real experience. The question is just how prepared are we or our children/grandchildren prepared for the inevitable, whether it be this time around or the next?

My experiences as a child were of life of frugality, being brought up in the low-rent district of town ($18 per month of rent). Times were tough even if my memories only recall the years immediately following WWII to the early 50s. Life was never one of luxury or priviledge, if you know what I mean. Thinking about it now, I realize just how fortunate I have been to have experienced tough times until my early teen years.

I'm blessed with the memory and the frugality that was the result. This favored me to some extent in that I have lived my life at 20-30% below my income level by practice. Remembering those hard years has translated in relative independence from from credit cards balances, spending and over-extending regardless. Add to that being laid off twice in my life (once for two years) only confirmed the need for continued frugality.

As an after thought, perhaps the best thing that could ever happen to everyone (though I don't wish it on anyone) would be to be laid off once or twice in one's life to realize one's frailties and note how truly vulnerable we are to forces beyond our control.

I know that many, unfortunately including many here on the FL, have not realized what bad times can bring and I feel for them. I only hope that, when the big one hits, they and/or their children have prepared and are ready and able to ride out the storm without losing everything. Losing almost everything is a truly humbling experience and how we react determines the mettle of the person.

............"How will our society change and will we be as respected by our children and future generations as our elders are by us for how we dealt with the present and possibly near future difficult state of affairs?"

We'll pass from this life having two epitaphs:

"The first is chissled on your headstone and the second is the one people remember you by."

 

[Mid-fogey]

My Granddad was...

My Dad's 28th birthday was four days away -02 November, 1929 - and the "Crash" changed his life forever. From 'Jay Gatsby' to vacuum cleaner salesman! He heard the Governor of New York speaking on the radio and became a New Dealer overnight. The 'Crash', the Depression, the New Deal shaped the remainder of this life.

-dixon cannon

...born Sept 1900 and my dad was born the Sept 1929. It was also their defining event.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Check out the theme of this Halloween party:

"VINTAGE CRASH BASH - Dress in ROARING TWENTIES or DEPRESSION THIRTIES era costumes as we remember the 80th anniversary of the great stock market crash of 1929!" http://www.clubcicada.com/main.asp


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[Foofoogal]

crazy.
my dad was 15 at the time of the crash and supported the family by joining the CCC.

a New Dealer overnight. The 'Crash', the Depression, the New Deal shaped the remainder of this life.

I understand him though I often wonder what he would think of lately. He passed in 1987.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html
$30.00 a day with mandatory $25.00 sent home. He was so young. He also joined the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor.
His shaping made my shaping. I would not of survived this last year without him and his teachings. I live with the thoughts of not disgracing him or my mother.
http://sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

not sure what to say about that marc.

 

[Chas]

$30.00 a day with mandatory $25.00 sent home. He was so young.

I assume you meant $30 a month. $30 a day in the depression would have been mad cash. Bootlegger's wages.

 

[Nicehat]

With the government not having learned to stay out of the way by watching Roosevelt bumble his way through ten years of mediocrity and 1.45 Trillion dollars in defaults over the next year and a half (not counting the commercial crash) along with cap and tax and UHC, we are in deep trouble and on the verge of making The Great Depression look like the roaring 30's. It would serve us all well to take a moment and remember the lessons learned from parents and grandparents about how to make it through rough times. Those people took it on the chin and got up swinging! I hope this current society can duplicate their collective magnificence.

 

[Shangas]

October 29, 2009. 80 years later...

By now, the Wall Street Crash would've happened and a lot of people would have been in a lot of trouble.

 

[Chas]

I have heard a number of comparisons between the recent crash and '29. However -

The amount of money lost by investors (big and small) at the '29 crash was a total higher than what the US Federal Gov't had budgeted for the entire year.

Something to put into your pipe and smoke on....