The Great Crash, 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith

The Great Crash, 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith
This book lets reader to know the things that happened in 1929 and immediately before that year and thereafter. The book focuses on the nature of the stock market during that time and represents an effort on how to solve the problem that brought about the Great Depression. The year 1929 is a year to be remembered in the United States as it is the year that most serious economic incidence began in the United States, which was known as the Great Depression. The book brings about the stock market crash as the secondary event that happened in 1929. The crash of the stock market made the great depression
uncontrollable hence having a great effect on the economy performance.
The book points out the things that make human behavior clearer; it points out the nature of human being. The great pleasure of human being brought about stupidity in human action causing depression resulting in loss of money. John Kenneth Galbraith says in the book that there is no one in specific responsible for causing neither the Wall Street crash nor anyone responsible for engineering the speculation that followed. He focuses on using the knowledge of what happened in 1929 in preventing that occurrence in the future. Although there are measures taken to exact the error that created depression, it is important to know the exact cause of the depression so as to prevent the occurrence of new depression. The measures taken should be good enough to prevent the economy from going to recession again. Some of these measures as provided by the book includes; decreasing the prices of the commodities so as to create a high rate of supply of buyers and also improvise on providing loans at a lower interest rates.
Galbraith in his book does not judge entrepreneurship; he is even more sympathetic when he talks about the bankers of that time. He points out a small number of Americans whose deluded behavior and greed brought about the crisis in the equity markets. The government also had a role to play in the crisis as it allowed a burst bubble to hit the large part of the business circle hence triggering something that it could not undo. Galbraith tries to defend the bankers in the United States by then showing how it was not their cause that brought the financial crash. He shows how the greed of some few Americans can affect the performance of the whole economy even bringing it down causing depression.
Critique of thesis
The Great Crash of 1929 scrutinizes the causes and effects of the Americas disreputable financial meltdown. Galbraith also describes how people and cooperation were affected by the disaster. Galbraith in his book points out that the specialists financial press had seen this coming and tried to warn the investors on the risks that were to follow the year 1929. Most of the professional investors on the Wall Street who were supposed to read these materials on the press were serious making millions out of the speculation. The people who were providing cash on the margins would not have time to read and understand the research and analysis done, they were only interested in the profiting business hence the financial crash would occur without anyone noticing.
The Great Crash is a good book pointing an account of the financial disaster, which shook the economy of the United States.  Galbraith in this book belief that, the reason of the crash was based on the fact that some few Americans wanted to get rich fast. His beliefs in the book are tended to protect somehow future generations from having the same occurrence. This, however, was not the case as the educated economists would not even predict the 2008 Irish recession. The author says that most of the people during that time knew that there was a downturn coming but could not concede to that idea. All they wanted was to make money without caring about what would happen later.
Commentary on book’s merit
The Great Crash is a well-transcribed book and points out accounts of how people can be blinded on their desires of becoming rich ignoring the warnings of the dangers ahead. The book is great as the author does not only concentrate on the stock market crash alone but also takes the reader on a journey describing the economy of America before and after the Crash. Galbraith points out the causes of the depression in his book and does not point on specifics. When the reader begins to read this book, someone expects to know the exact reasons for the crash of the stock market. One expects to open a page and get the names of the exact individuals who caused the crash. Even though he tries to point out some of the people involved he gives a reason of the crash as a result of the combination of events.

Bibliography
Galbraith, John Kenneth. 1955. The Great Crash, 1929. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.