How much money - in total - did americans lose in the

[hase1959]

great depression?

[Rosie]

It wasn't so much that they lost it as that it didn't exist in the first place. Americans were trading on certain assumptions, such as the idea that properties were worth more, and that their values would increase further. When these assumptions unraveled, a great deal of money that was in circulation did not actually exist, and it had catastrophic consequences on the economy.