FDR's Inaugural Address In the 1920s, most of the United States experienced enormous prosperity. The industrial boom of the late nineteenth century was still producing a wealth of manufactured goods, and people, for the most part, had stable and reliable jobs. This commercial prosperity led many people to spend money on the new products of the era: radios, cars, etc. But toward the end of the decade, consumer spending began to decline. As people spent less money and the demand for manufactured goods declined, manufacturers began to cut jobs. Unemployed workers could not afford to buy many consumer products, so as more people loss jobs and spent less money, even more people loss jobs. This economic trend combined with growing problems in the stock market. In the late 1920s, stock prices began to soar. To take advantage of this bull market, investors would invest money in stocks that were rising in price and then take it out quickly once they thought the price would plateau. These quick investments are called speculation. Speculators drove the price of stocks up and hyper-inflated the value of stocks. In order to cash in on this trend, many people began to buy as many stocks