The Great Crash 1929, by John Kenneth Galbraith essays

The Great Crash 1929, by John Kenneth Galbraith essays In his book The Great Crash 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith, a foremost economist, examines the implication of the stock market crash of 1929 which has become a persistent fear for Wall Street ever since. A not too distant downturn of the market, in 1987, was compared to the Great Crash in the introduction, added for this release (1988). For instance, how many economists and investors alike were watching to see if the protections put in place to stop this kind of crash would work and prevent a repeat of 1929. They did appear to work and many believe that a crash, such as occurred in 1929, is entirely impossible given the current structure of the market and of governmental safeguards and other controls now in place. Galbraith finds that what happened in 1929 was not an isolated incident, he notes that earlier in history there had been other exploratory splurges. He notes, later in the book, an instance as early as beginning in 1637 when Dutch speculators invested in tulip bulbs. Ga lbraith also comments that we were going through a similar period, at the time his writing, but he makes no solid predictions about the outcome. Galbraith begins in 1928 as President Calvin Coolidge saw only optimism after the boom period of the 1920s and failed to see the storm that was coming. The 1920s was an excellent time, and people were showing a tremendous desire to get rich quickly. Stock speculation was one of the results. The stock market boom was evident by the middle of the decade, although it is not possible to say precisely when it started. By 1927 the increase in speculation was obvious. This was occurring as Britain was becoming an unappealing place to spend money because of a long series of exchange crises, and The United States benefited greatly. It was believed by many that the prices of common stocks were only catching up with the increase in corporate earnings. Galbraith perceives this as a mass exodus into the l...