The U.S. economy changed in many ways, mostly because the

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The U.S. economy changed in many ways, mostly because the war had ended and there was a huge surplus labor force. There was a change in production from wartime goods to peacetime goods. The 1919 recession lasted until 1921, and from 1921 to 1929 there was a boom. Which meant that there was a lot of buying. People started buying on margin to purchase stocks and bought on credit to purchase goods. The drought killed the farmers and helped out in the depression.

With the war ending and the soldiers returning home, the women had to start giving up their positions to the men, but the women tried getting jobs else where. Which created the surplus labor force. Since there was no need to build tanks, bullets and other wartime goods the factories had to change to peacetime goods (ovens, dishwashers, etc.). The beginning of the boom helped to pave the way to the depression, because people were buying goods with money they didn?t have, called buying on credit, (like using credit cards).

The same thing happened with the stock market people were buying on margin. They would pay a little bit now, and then pay the rest with the money they made from the stocks. But when the stock marked crashed. Banks started to recall their loans, mortgage, etc. The people didn?t have the money because they bought too much or they lost money in the stock market or they just weren?t making money, like the farmers during the drought. The farmers weren?t making money because they couldn?t keep their crops in the ground (stubble farming). A lot of farmers sold their crops at a lost or didn?t sell at all. When the banks recalled the farmers mortgages some of them sold their house and moved to the ?dream land? (California).