Question

The newspaper headline below was printed the day after Black Tuesday: A photo shows the front page of the New York Times for October 30, 1929. The headlines read, Stock Collapse in 16,410,030 Share Day But Rally At Close Cheers Brokers, Bankers Optimistic, To Continue Aid. © Bridgeman Art Library / Universal Images Group/ Image Quest 2015 Which fact made the onset of the events that followed this headline worse? By the end of the 1920s, female factory workers made 20 percent more per week than farm workers. By the end of the 1920s, farm workers made up less than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce. By the end of the 1920s, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas. By the end of the 1920s, the top 0.01 percent of the U.S. population earned as much as the bottom 42 percent.

Answer 1

The worsening of events following Black Tuesday was significantly impacted by the extreme wealth inequality, with the top 0.01 percent of the U.S. population earning as much as the bottom 42 percent. This resulted in a lack of financial resilience among the general population, leading to widespread economic hardship when the stock market crashed.

Step-by-step explanation:

The onset of the events following the newspaper headline about Black Tuesday was made worse by a significant fact: By the end of the 1920s, the top 0.01 percent of the U.S. population earned as much as the bottom 42 percent. This fact highlights the extreme wealth inequality that existed in the United States at the time, which exacerbated the economic impact of the stock market crash. This level of inequality meant that most of the population did not have the financial resilience to weather the economic downturn, leading to widespread hardship when the crash occurred.

Moreover, the crash affected more than just those who had invested in the stock market. Due to a culture of speculation, banks had heavily invested depositors' savings into the stock market. As a result, when the market crashed, banks' cash reserves plummeted, leading to bank failures. The Federal Reserve's inability to rein in excessive bank loans for stock speculation contributed to the severity of the situation. Consequently, many Americans lost their life savings, and the country plummeted into the Great Depression.