1929 : THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN U.S. AMERICA

From 24th to 29th October, 1929, five days marked the beginning of the Great Depression: from the famous "Black Thursday" (24), to the "Black Tuesday " (29)
It was only in 1954 that the September 1929 peak, which preceded the crisis, was equalled.
Since 1926, it had been allowed for investors at NYSE ("New York Stock-Exchange") to BUY SHARES   on a 90% credit; in 1929, interest rates became superior to earnings. So on October 24th, 1929, there were no buyers. The famous Wall Street crash had begun.
In 3 weeks, the losses amounted to $ 30 billions. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, money, and status. In 1931, all western economies were in crisis. WW2 interrupted the depressionary trend.
It was feared the October 2008 crisis might reduplicate the Great Depression.

Vocab.: buy shares : acheter des actions en bourse; interest rates : taux d'intérêt ; earnings : les gains ; loss : perte ; depressionary trend : tendance à la dépression ; reduplicate : redoubler, répliquer ; the Great Depression : la Grande Crise de 29 .

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