During the 1920s new goods and new ideas about what it meant to have a good life came together in a ‘consumer boom’. This meant that many people began to spend lots of money on things that they hoped would improve their lives, like cars, telephones, radios and refrigerators. So many people bought so many of these goods that it was called a ‘boom’ – a period of very quick growth in the economy of the USA. Many were prepared to borrow money or pay for things using credit. This was a big change in America’s state of mind.