[RobRoy]

>>And the bottom line of the story is that foolish people took out mortgages that they should not have.<<

I agree. But in 1928 and 1929, foolish people took out loans for stocks that they shouldn't have. The whole world was impacted though.

[gas0linealley]

I agree. But in 1928 and 1929, foolish people took out loans for stocks that they shouldn't have. The whole world was impacted though.

The day after the market collapsed, the sun rose and life went on, but what a different place the world was. I've often thought about that, and about how much the economy depends on confidence.

[Pelham]

There actually wasn't much margin involved in the '29 crash. A "5%" margin claim often gets tossed around, but this applied to a very limited pool of stocks, IPOs as I recall. Margin rules were comparable to what we have today, perhaps even tighter.