Beginning of Essay
The enormous amount of unsecured consumer debt created by this speculation left the stock market essentially off-balance. Many investors, caught up in the race to make a killing, invested their life savings, mortgaged their homes, and cashed in safer investments ....

Middle of Essay
.... of what had happened began to sink in, and a full-blown panic ensued. Thousands of investors -- many of them ordinary working people, not serious "players" -- were financially ruined. By the end of the year, stock values had dropped by fifteen billion dollars. ....