Quote:
Originally Posted by GregE
Government intervention didn't cause the 1929 stock market crash but it most certainly would have mitigated (if not actually prevented) it.
Ditto re the 2008 meltdown.
Moreover, the 1930's depression didn't really end until after the government started spending unprecedented amounts of money preparing for and eventually entering WWII.
TRANSLATION: It took massive government spending to get us out of the last depression.
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First of all, there was another crash in the early 20s. And though it was initially actually more severe than the Great Depression, it turned out to be relatively short and weak precisely because the federal government did nothing about it. The "Great" depression was made much worse and much longer because of New Deal legistlation. Look at things like the Smoot-Hawley tariff and the National Industrial Recovery Act, etc....
Secondly, by 1935 to 1938, that new deal legistlation was being pushed back and overturned by congress. In fact New Deal legislation was so harmful to employment and capital formation that it was effectively halted altogether by 1938, because there was no way to build up to a war if the government was so restrictive of private business growth..
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