Why You've Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920 | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., at "The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today," the Mises Circle in Colorado; sponsored by Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs and hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Recorded Saturday, 4 April 2009.

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[BagofHay]

@weho1 The only difference between the Great Depression and the many 1-2 year recessions that came before it is that the Great Depression came after/during a period of increased intervention (The Fed starting open-market operations in 1922, Herbert Hoover, FDR), and that the Great Depression lasted much longer and was much more severe. Ben Bernanke came right out and admitted that the Fed caused the Great Depression in a speech of his a few years ago. However, I agree about the 80s reforms.

[StAugustine79]

@weho1 That is incorrect. The Depression of 1920 was caused by the post WWI recession. In fact, Harding ended the 1st Depression by lowering taxes and the federal debt. Free market enterprise does not generate excess, it generates real wealth through the productive forces of competition. FDR's socialist programs were not enough whatsoever to provide recovery from the Great Depression of 1929. The largest period of economic growth was in the 19th and early 20th century due to entrepreneurship.

[StAugustine79]

@weho1 Please give me an example of how keynesianism has worked please. Keynesianism has been a total failure if anything. Government managed Capitalism (An Oxymoron) has been empirically proven to be the primary cause of the economic recession of today. Increased government spending, unsustainable social programs, tax increases, inflation due to a government-sponsored central bank and its failed fiat monetary policy, artificially low interest rates encouraging mal-investment.

[Lupina12]

@weho1 Those terms, Conservative, Republican, Liberal, Democrat, mean nothing anymore and they haven't for the last at least thirty years. That's a very empty, for lack of a better word, argument. Look at who paid for Obama's campaign, and ask yourself why a Democrat is backed by the corporatist bankers. Our economy is sinking, not because of a party issue, but because the government has become way too powerful, and has way too much of our money.

[weho1]

@ECMIM BTW in the last 20 years the dominant political party in the U.S. has been Conservative so you have just unknowingly endorsed everything I've said. Thank you!

[weho1]

@ECMIM Satism, statism, statism keep repeating that BULLSHIT along with "Free Markets" as if it's a silver cross in the face of vampires.I never argue with success and that's what disturbs me with those that clinging to the Austrian school as if it's a religion. Everything Austrians believe in has proven to end in utter FAILURE and yet instead of rising up from the ashes and asking where did we do wrong, they double down and say the problem is we didn't go far enough! Beware, U reap what u sow!

[ECMIM]

@weho1 Your reading of history is completely flawed: the expansion was almost solely down to America being the only man left standing after WWII. Factor in the other, Western, democracies going 'all in' on socialism (and it's handmaiden, statism), and there was even less competition for a dominating USA. That we've now spent the past 20 years drinking from the same, poisoned, well as the Western European democracies and now we find ourselves in the same, sinking, socialist boat.

[MrGiggity890]

right off the bat, woods busts out the jokes...love it

[weho1]

@BagofHay I would argue history is repeating itself. Laissez-faire capitalism Austrians champion led to excesses that caused the 1st Great Depression. In response, New Deal reforms led to the longest era of prosperity and economic growth this country has known. Since the 1980's to the extent conservatives representing the rich and powerful have been successful repealing these reforms, the rich got richer, upward mobilty has gone down, and the average middleclass worker has slipped into poverty.

[BagofHay]

@weho1 I would argue that this type of regulation failed for the same reason banking deregulation failed in the 80s. Capitalism had been bound hand and foot to the point where it could not solve its own problems. The FDIC was to blame then, for creating a moral hazard, not deregulation. Similarly, it is government intervention which makes deregulation so dangerous. This is very ironic, but wrong breeds more wrong. Reagan supported corporatism. I'm not contesting that. But he wasn't an Austrian.