On October 29, 1929, an event called the Great Depression began. It changed the world forever. It affected many lives because people couldn't afford food to put on the table and daily life was a struggle. In 1933, between 13 and 15 million Americans were unemployed. (A&E Networks) The many Americans affected by these events have been through difficult times. There were many underlying causes of the Great Depression, including the stock market crash, bank failures, and the Dust Bowl. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There was a financial boom starting in August 1921. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIJA) increased six-fold from 63 to 381 in September 1929. (KA Richardson Gary). The stock market crash ruined many people's stocks and essentially started the Great Depression. How stocks work: They are part of a company that the public can buy, so people can own a part of the company. If stocks are high, it means the economy is doing well. If the company does poorly, the stock is low. In this case the company will not make any profit. The stock market crash occurred while Herbert Hoover was president of the United States. It didn't make him popular. It also brought back something called poverty. It was widespread in the prosperous 1920s. (E. a. Arnesen) The stock market crash caused businesses to close. The drop in prices has caused a collapse in consumer wealth. As the article said, “spiral” growth has occurred. Even after the depression ended, the depression left scars on many Americans born in that generation. What this tells us is that all the factors of the stock market crash were one of the many causes of the Great Depression. Many families had to change their lifestyle. They began growing their own food in gardens and ate everything they could find. Many men had to take menial jobs that paid much less than their previous positions. The numerous things we did tried to help everyday Americans survive, but there still weren't many job options. Many, however, ended up finding work once World War II began due to the boom in construction work. Furthermore, many families suffered from hunger because there was not enough food, which led to poverty. Many Americans did not make it through the Depression because many of them died trying to survive. Hopefully this won't hurt the economy if it happens again, but it's extremely unlikely. What happened during the Great Depression was horrible for many American families because they had difficulty living the American dream. We should be grateful that we are better off now than during the Depression. The next cause of the Great Depression was bank failures. What we know is that many banks failed and that there were many causes attributed to the increase in bank failures, which resulted in many other effects such as unemployment. Peter Tamerin believes that the bank failures of the 1930s were caused by declining agricultural incomes. (Stauffer). In agricultural regions, bank failure was high due to lower cotton sales in some states. Over 8,000 banks did not belong to the Federal Reserve, which is the central bank of the United States. (Richardson Gary) Banks did not keep reserve money on hand, which made it difficult in case of emergencies. People rushed to banks to withdraw their life savings. Banks across the country had to close and increased..