The Great Depression began with the 1929 stock market crash and its effects rippled out across the global economy. As businesses saw profits and incomes fall, they laid off thousands of workers, who could no longer buy goods. People rushed to withdraw savings from banks that could no longer pay deposits back, causing many banks to fail. Those at the bottom of the social ladder, including the newly unemployed who lost their homes and savings, suffered the most and were forced to live in makeshift shelters. The crash had worldwide effects as Americans could no longer buy foreign goods and other countries struggled to repay loans to the U.S.