Washington's Blog reminds us that things got ugly during the last prolonged depression in the United States. This interesting historical footage from the Great Depression shows what happens when large numbers of people are unemployed for years at a time, get desperate, and perceive that the game is rigged to the benefit of Wall Street. … Continue reading The Economy Has Caused Riots Before – In the Great Depression
Great Depression
Learning From the Past – Or Maybe Not.
It looks like we are going to repeat the past. In this case, it's 1937. In 1937 the general discussion in U.S. politics had turned to concerns about debt and deficits. The conservative view that opposed both the New Deal and efforts to alleviate the Great Depression began to get the upper hand. Keep in … Continue reading Learning From the Past – Or Maybe Not.
What to Call This Unpleasantness? Little Depression or Workers’ Depression?
Brad Delong has had enough. So have I. "The Little Depression" Back in late 2008 people asked me: is this a recession or a depression? I said that I would call it a depression if the unemployment rate kissed 12%. I said that I would call it a depression if the unemployment rate stayed above … Continue reading What to Call This Unpleasantness? Little Depression or Workers’ Depression?
Income Inequality and Financial Crisis
The Great Recession of 2007-9, like the Great Depression in 1929-33, was triggered by a massive financial crisis: stock market crash, falling asset prices, bank failures, and liquidity crisis. One of the key triggers of instability in banking and the resulting financial crises is what economists call "over-leverage", meaning too much (private) credit and too … Continue reading Income Inequality and Financial Crisis
Banks Failures: The 1920’s and The Great Depression
From the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) itself, a great brief history of banking failures in the 1920's and the Great Depression. see: FDIC: Managing the Crisis: The FDIC and RTC Experience. On average, more than 600 banks failed each year between 1921 and 1929. Those failures led to the end of many state deposit … Continue reading Banks Failures: The 1920’s and The Great Depression
Keynes Was Really A Conservative, Not a Socialist
Bruce Bartlett sets the history straight. Contrary to today's populist political rhetoric from right-wing, so-called conservative politicians, Keynes, and Keynesian economics is anything BUT socialist. In fact, Keynes sought to save free-market, private-property capitalism from itself. Follow the link for the complete story. Here's an excerpt: Those on the right have been making this same … Continue reading Keynes Was Really A Conservative, Not a Socialist
Unboxed – How Crisis Shapes the Corporate Model – NYTimes.com
Interesting article on economic crisis and changing corporate structures. For example, it describes how The Great Depression led to the creation of multi-divisional large corporations such as GE, GM, and DuPont (the corps already existed, the structure changed). Interesting to speculate how the current crisis will change corporate business organizations. via Unboxed - How Crisis … Continue reading Unboxed – How Crisis Shapes the Corporate Model – NYTimes.com
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