24 October 1929
" Unlike Europe, the United States has withdrawn from war (the First World. - Gazeta.Ru) more powerful than ever before, writes in its book, " The Short Economic History from Paleolith to our Days " , the famous American Economic History, Rondo Cameron. - On the purely economic side of the issue, the United States has turned from a net debtor to a net creditor, won new markets from European producers domestically and abroad, and has achieved a highly favourable trade balance. America, with its small markets, growing populations and rapid technological development, seems to have found keys to continued prosperity. "
Indeed, in the years of the First World War, allies owed about $10 billion, and in view of the interest that had fled by 1922, that amount had risen to $11, 6 billion (through today ' s prices $158 billion). The amount is not imaginative at present, but it should be borne in mind that the entire US GNP at that time was less than $50 billion.
This stock of strength, combined with accumulated industrial capacity, provided the United States with almost a decade of continuous economic boom. The rapid growth of the country ' s war-stricken population, the rapid increase in national wealth, whose total value rose from $350 billion in 1922 to $450 billion in 1929, convinced post-war America that the age of age had come. In history, these years are known as the Prosperity Epoch.
The emergence of new industries, especially automobiles, has made a particularly important contribution to the prosperity of the 20s. In the 1920s, the US car fleet increased by 250%, reaching 26 million by 1929 (with 120 million people). Every 12-man worker in the automobile industry worked.
Rapidly growing auto-industries have given rise to demand for related industries - steel, rubber, glass, oil production and processing.
Electricity has also played a major role. The electrified dwellings of Americans have begun to be filled with invisible devices, refrigerators, radio receivers, etc.
For those who couldn't afford to buy all these things at once, there was a widespread practice of selling credit. And to convince consumers to buy everything and at once, there's a modern ad.
The increase in industrial production was accompanied by an increase in the value of the shares of companies that have become the subject of the burning of millions of fast-growing Americans of the middle class. Valuable paper was usually purchased on a loan that was willingly provided by low interest banks. As a result, the Doe-Jones index rose from 80 points in the early 20s to 300 by the end of 1928. At a peak of 3 September 1929, it was 381 points.
