Full text without ads Chapter 821 1929: The Great Crash (Part II)

Fisher was joined by Mitchell, chairman of Citibank, who said: "Stock prices have taken firm root in the full prosperity of the United States. Full text and no ads"

Former Princeton economist Joseph . Lawrence also had a widely quoted comment when stock prices were at their peak: "There is a consensus among thousands of people that they are valuing the wonderful market, the stock exchange, that the value of the stock has not been overvalued. ”

He then adds, "Where have all those who think they are smart enough to dismiss these wise public judgments?" ”

The words of these self-righteous economists have deeply misled the general public, including veteran brokers such as George.

The stock market crash did not come without warning.

Three days ago, on October 21, Wall Street had just experienced Black Monday, and the exchange was opened with a large sell-off, selling more than 6 million shares throughout the day, so that the stock market automatic recorder did not record the last transaction until 1 hour and 40 minutes after closing.

Supposedly, investors should smell the danger from this, and strangely enough, everyone remains optimistic and fanatical, insisting that this is just a correction and that the stock market will still move forward.

George was no exception, pledging his villa, his car and a farm in California to buy stock and advance client money.

Because according to the unwritten practice in the industry, the customer only needs to pay 40% for the purchase of shares, and the other 60% is borrowed by the bank, which has the advantage of getting a high commission.

Three minutes before leaving the market, his good friend Wilson, the famous agent, walked in and invited him to lunch, and by the way talked about a Christmas holiday in Europe, to which George happily agreed.

"Bell-" The Wall Street Exchange bell rang.

As expected, the index followed the previous day's trajectory and climbed up firmly and slowly, but the volume was slightly larger, George looked at it for a while, and accompanied a real estate developer to the office to discuss investment business.

When they came out, they were stunned to find that the stock index had plummeted, and the sound was even more violent than three days ago.

The normal daily trading volume on the exchange is 2 million to 3 million shares, and the maximum is 6 million shares three days ago. And at this time, more than 10 million shares flooded in within a few hours, but there was no buyer! At 11 o'clock in the morning, there was an even crazier scene in the stock index, almost plummeting! It was as if the trading floor had become a madhouse, and people were panicking and frantically selling, selling, selling

After all, George has been fighting in the stock sea for more than ten years, and he is calmer than ordinary people, but his hands and feet are cold, and his body is weak, and in just a few hours, his family property has dropped from 6 million to 2 million, not counting the losses caused by the advance for customers. (Full text e-book free download)

The secretary came to him with a pale face and told him that Wilson had committed suicide and had climbed to the top of the building five minutes earlier and jumped off.

George hurried to the door of the exchange to see his friend one last time, but he saw that the ambulance crew was busy around seven or eight corpses.

A total of 11 people died by suicide that morning, including bankers, stockbrokers and investors.

George stumbled back to his office and locked the door, rummaging through drawers for a pistol.

Just as he turned on the pistol safe, a phone call saved him.

Chase Bank's Wiggin, his immediate boss has warned not to be discouraged, and Mitchell, chairman of the Morgan consortium and the National Bank, has called a meeting of major consortiums and banks to prepare to work together to rescue the market.

At 1:30 p.m., Whitney, vice president of the New York Stock Exchange, made a show and offered $205 per share to buy U.S. steel stocks, and then the giants took out a total of $240 million in joint disk protection funds to buy stocks at a price higher than the market.

After a lot of tossing and turning, it finally ended in a draw, and when George dragged his tired body home, he was shrunk by the oncoming cool breeze, and he knew in his heart that the harsh winter of the stock market was coming. …,

The next day, President Hoover issued a proclamation: "The basic enterprise of the United States, that is, the production and distribution of goods, is based on sound and prosperity. ”

The president, who advocates economic liberalism and laissez-faire, came to the rescue of the market, but he also failed to restore the confidence of the frightened and hard-hit stockholders!

On October 28, "Black Monday", the index fell by 49 points, and on this day, the content of the discussion between the consortium giants was no longer to save the market, but to restrict everyone to legally sell stocks.

On October 29, Black Tuesday, the index plummeted to 298 points, down 22% from its peak, and the Washington Post described this day as the "worst day" in the 112-year history of the New York Stock Exchange.

Another friend of George's, Mr. Wellington, who had $7.5 million at the beginning of the year, and as a calm and sensible investor, he bought $1.5 million in free bonds and gave them to his wife, telling her that it would be the expenses they would need in the future, and that if he asked her for them one day, it would mean that he had lost his mind and must not take them out.

On 30 October, Wellington approached his wife with a margin call to protect the other $6 million he had invested in the stock market, and sadly she was convinced.

On Nov. 5, Wellington lost $7.5 million and drowned two days later.

George was unable to attend a friend's funeral, and like Wellington, he was bankrupt and had to pay off more than $8 million in bank debt

His clients are all missing, and they have no choice but to sneak away and live in poverty in a small town in France.

Professor Fisher also lost millions of dollars in a matter of days, and since then he has been in debt, surviving for several years under the double blow of mental and ** before dying.

From 1930 to 1932, the stock market crashed six times. The Jones index fell to 41 points

George's large holdings of U.S. Steel shares fell from $262 to $21 per share. Merry, a female elevator worker on the exchange, bought shares in General Motors from $92 to $7.

In this stormy stock market crash, many multimillionaires and millionaires were reduced to poverty overnight, and thousands of people had a nervous breakdown and committed suicide by jumping off buildings.

The famous American humorist Will . Rogers described: "You have to stand in line to squeeze through the window and jump off. ”

The economic crisis triggered by the stock market crash has had serious consequences, which can be summarized in a general way: tens of millions of factories and banks have failed, and the number of unemployed people in the world has reached 32 million.

This is when the callousness of capitalism is exposed. On the one hand, a large number of workers live on the streets, starving and cold; On the other hand, in order to maintain monopoly prices, the capitalists shot large numbers of livestock and buried them, threw whole ships of oranges into the sea, poured tons of milk into the Mississippi River, and used corn and wheat instead of coal for fuel.

Indeed, when the stock market crash has spread irresistibly, the historian Arthur Jr. Schlesinger exclaimed: "Capitalism has come to an end!" ”

Under the economic crisis, governments of various countries have been troubled by internal and external troubles, and have strengthened trade protection measures and means to safeguard their own interests, thus further aggravating and deteriorating the world economic situation

After every major economic event, a group of economists will inevitably emerge who will point out the country and excite words, smoking pipes, frowning, and telling people in a deep tone: I have long foreseen the stock market crash.

Everything is like this, and you know the inevitability of its occurrence after it happens.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the American economy was booming, industry and commerce were expanding, and people were accumulating more and more spare money in their bags, and many people began to get involved in securities investment. Stock prices are rising due to rising demand.

Huge profits suck more people into the stock market like a magnet, with the consequence that the stock price is pushed far higher than it is actually worth.

At this time, the president of General Motors expressed his view of the new era: "Everyone should be rich." ”…,

President Hoover agreed: "We are on the eve of a decisive victory in the war on poverty, and the slums are about to disappear from the United States." ”

Even the president is so optimistic, how can the common people not fall into a frenzy?

A speculative frenzy has arisen in the US securities market, and "whoever wants to get rich, buy stocks" has become a mantra!

People are obsessed with buying stocks, dreaming of becoming millionaires overnight. The frenzied stock speculation has finally led to an economic catastrophe.

The price of shares on the New York Stock Exchange fell like an avalanche, people were hysterically selling stocks, and desperate cries echoed throughout the halls of the exchange. This day triggered the US economic crisis.

However, this is only the beginning of the disaster. More than 16 million shares were sold off in a single day, and the average price of the 50 major stocks fell by nearly 40%. Overnight, the "boom" was wiped out, and a full-blown financial crisis ensued: massive bank failures, bankruptcies, market depression, and a sharp decline in production; The number of unemployed has surged and people's living standards have plummeted; Agricultural prices have fallen, and many people are on the verge of bankruptcy.

An economic crisis of unprecedented scale finally broke out, and the "Great Depression" period in American history arrived.

All this is the exact opposite of what Hoover described when he ran for president in 1928! He once said, "Today, more than ever, we in the United States are closer to the final victory over poverty," predicting that "there is a tender chicken in every pot and two cars in the garage." ”

But it was soon ruthlessly crushed by the economic crisis. During the crisis, he tried to defer the payment of reparations and war debts for a year, and presented a platform to Congress to save the crisis, but he was adamantly opposed to state aid to the unemployed, and the homeless in the cities built rudimentary shelters out of wooden planks, old tin sheets, tarpaulin, and even brown paper, and these huts were called "Hoover Village", which was meant to satirize President Hoover. In addition, homeless people's food bags are called "Hoover bags", cars that are pulled by animal power because they cannot afford fuel are called "Hoover cars", and even the newspapers covered by homeless people sleeping on street benches are called "Hoover blankets".

There is a popular children's song on the streets of New York: "Mellon blows the whistle, Hoover rings the bell." Wall Street signals that America is rushing to hell! ”

In 1929, the Great Collapse of the United States and Europe began!

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