The correct answer is: Consumers buying goods on credit.
The growth of prosperity of the United States in the 1920s led to the development of American Consumerism in the period also known as the <em>Roaring Twenties</em>, due to technical advances and fresh ideas in the communication, transportation, and manufacturing areas. Americans advanced from the conventional avoidance of debt, to the concept of buying goods on credit with partial payments, or credit installments. President Harding's economic policies during the 1920s contributed to the rise of consumerism; manufacturers also encouraged consumerism by offering a greater variety of goods at fair prices. Advertising and marketing abilities via the 1920s newspapers and the radio saw a huge increase in sales by means of consumer credit.
American Consumerism in the 1920s led to the obsession with the purchase of consumer goods. Much of the Consumer Society was raised on easy consumer credit. American who were once prudent bought most of their more highly-priced goods on the installment plan, paying some money at first and then paying monthly payments for one to five years. Easy credit via installment plans saw a huge increase in consumer condition of owing money, together with a significant decline in consumer savings.
For most of the 1920s, the growth of credit affected the stock market because investors, also, bought more stock on margin causing the stock market to arose. During the 1920s more people began to acquire shares of stock using credit. A problem for the people who bought stock on credit was that if the stock market collapsed they would owe more than they could repay. The excess of the 1920s and the Consumer Society ended unexpectedly with the 1929 Wall Street Crash; this crash led to the downfall of many Americans and was followed by the Great Depression, which witnesses the end of consumerism in the 1920s.
