So I have been doing a DEEP Dive Researching into the time period between 1929 through 1932, via reading countless real full length newspaper articles during this period to better understand the sentiment of people up to and after the crash event. Results will be surprising!
So this is what I found, and will hold my thoughts to the end:
1. Time period up to Sept 1929 had no indication that a crash was imminent, basically everyone was blind sided. There WAS a mention that Auto sales were starting to slump in July compared to the year prior.
2. Goods and services were still extremely expensive, so hats, shoes, furs, radios, dinning room sets, etc. all commanded top dollar.
3. Nov - Dec 1929, Acknowledgement of a crash event BUT hopeful optimism that things will return to normal and are rebounding. Financial news was NOT front page! People were still going about their daily lives.
4. Dec 1930 - 1 year into the crash. Some mention of the crash earlier, BUT Hopeful optimism that the market is stabilizing. A lot of emphasis on market up swing.
5. 1932 - 2 years after crash , Retail goods had a huge deflationary effect. Same types of goods and services, but 50 - 75% reduction in price. Dinning room sets were not 500, but 100. Shoes 10 -> 2, Fur coats 2000 -> 250. Instead of whole dinning room sets, they would just sell 1 chair or a single table. Similar to before, sentiment that things would get better, focus on any small market upticks as positive. AGAIN Finance information was at the end of the paper. Front section just talked about local news etc.
Thoughts:
1. People did not pay attention to the indicators regarding durable goods sales were slowing down right before the crash.
2. Even during the crash event, and after the crash, people still had hopeful optimism that everything will return to normal.
3. This data reminded me of the frog in boiling water experiment. As the water boils the frog is oblivious that it is in real danger.
4. Normal folks did not really grasp the dire straits they were in until the after affects that occurred years later. It took time for Wall Street to catch up to Main Street.
So there you have it. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, since this information is not readily available in any standard Internet articles.