How Did The Economic Conditions Of The Unites States Of America In The Nineteen Twenties Enable Underworld Figures Such As Al Capone To Prosper?

S. .
             economy unstable. For an economy to function properly, total demand must .
             equal total supply. In an economy with such unequal distribution of income it .
             is not ensured that demand will always equal supply. Essentially what .
             happened in the 1920's was that there was an oversupply of goods. It was .
             not that the surplus products of industrialised society were not wanted, but .
             rather that those of the lower class could not afford more, whereas the .
             wealthy spent only a small portion of their income.
             "On Monday October 21, 1929 prices on the Stock Exchange started .
             to fall quickly. Investors became fearful. Knowing that prices were falling, .
             but not by how much, they started selling quickly, which then caused the .
             collapse to happen even faster. Prices stabilised a little on Tuesday and .
             Wednesday, but then on Black Thursday, October 24, everything fell apart .
             again. By this time most major investors had lost confidence in the market. .
             Once enough investors had acknowledged the boom was over, it was over. .
             Partial recovery was achieved on Friday and Saturday when a group of .
             leading bankers stepped in, in an attempt to stop the crash. But then on .
             Monday the 28th prices started dropping again. By the end of the day the .
             market had fallen by 13%. On the next day, Black Tuesday, an .
             unprecedented 16.4 million shares changed hands. Stocks fell so much that .
             at many times during the day no buyers were available at any price." (2).
             This speculation and the resulting stock market crashes acted as a .
             trigger to the already unstable U.S. economy. Due to the misdistribution of .
             wealth, the economy of the 1920's was one very much dependant upon .
             confidence. The market crashes undermined this confidence. The rich .
             stopped spending on luxury items, and slowed investments. The middle-class .
             and poor stopped buying things with instalment credit for fear of losing .
             their jobs, and not being able to pay the interest. As a result industrial .