"Thoughts on the Great Crash of 1929"

Ed.note: In honor of John Kenneth Galbraith who wrote "The Great Crash" and also in memory of Merrill Lynch that announced a huge loss due to mortgage securities this morning, I have reposted this post.)


Monday, October 22, 2007
Reflection: Thoughts on the Great Crash

OpEd: Nostalgia: "The Great Crash" by John Kenneth Galbraith

If you have read the recent book by Alan Greenspan, "Turbulence," and I have not yet completed it, although I have skimmed parts, and if you have listened to the coverage of the G7 in Europe, as well as pundits in the press, there is the spin that we just cannot do anything about "busts" of markets. The Fed is just helpless it seems when it comes to taking any action to deflate "Irrational Exuberance."

Bold action CAN be taken to rescue banks that have been packaging "mortgage securities" and of course bold action CAN be taken to rescue banking entities that are "too large to fail." That being said, other than rescuing the big guys, the politicos are helpless.

The cause of the Great Crash as explained in the book by John Kenneth Galbraith, was the severe disparity of wealth in America which had widened in the 1920's. The only time in our history that has equaled this is TODAY.

Frequently, the Big boys, as they are called, can be heard saying that this is NOT THEIR PROBLEM. It is true that one does not get to be a "big boy" through meditative exercise...however that being said, without buyers, sellers cannot prosper. In some marketing equation then, one is one's brother's business keeper. Any seller must therefore make sure the buyers can still buy.

How long could such a period of "NON BUYING" last. This is the eyeopener. In 1929, when my father turned 18, and his father died, he went off to college. Then in 1933 when he worked for a few years before going into the service---till the Korean War...the fact that the depression lasted from 1929 to 1950 meant that a whole generation of folks waded through twenty years of "NON BUYING".

The pundits have said that thank goodness we know a lot more about economics now than then.

Show me.