:
: : Do you know anyone who lived during the Great Depression? Have you talked with anyone from that era?: If you want to defend capitalism, sonny, I wouldn't suggest bringing up the Great Depression.
: The depression was not something that happened to capital; it was something that happened to *labor*.
It was something that happened to capital: it went
on strike as you pointed out below.
Capitalism: no capital, no labor. Zilch.
: Remember Ayn Rand's sick fantasy about all the capitalists going on strike? *That* was the Great Depression.
: Or, to put it another way...
: During the Great Depression, the land was there (ready to grow, ready to yield resources); the workers were there (ready to work a good day's work); and the factories were there (ready to produce everything the nation needed).
: The *only* thing that *wasn't* there was the capitalists.
: They took their ball and went home to sulk.
You can only hope that it doesn't happen again in your lifetime.
I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
"Major conclusions from the study were the following: The amount of U. S. currency going into domestic circulation each year has not varied much over the past two decades, while the amount of currency going abroad has risen strongly, particularly in the 1990's; consequently, the share of U.S. currency going into domestic circulation each year has dropped over the past two decades, while the share going abroad has risen strongly; these same broad conclusions emerge regardless of which measurement technique or set of source data was used; and all measurement techniques identified the same periods of major accelerations and decelerations in net outflows of currency." --U. S. International Transactions, Revised Estimates for 1974–96, by Christopher L. Bach, From the July 1997 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS
Capital on strike it appears.
: I was there---looking for work, ready to work---while the capitalists went on strike, sniveling about their overvalued stocks going belly up.
Under such conditions, their reaction seems inevitable.
: Me and my family nearly starved because of them.
Prepare yourself early this time seems like good advice.
There's a whole raft of young folks who know nothing
market downturns. Sounds like one of 'em in the Wall
St. quote below.
: "Because we may have been the victims of bad economies in the past, does it follow that America can never learn, can never profit by mistakes? Has the cry of 'danger ahead' been merely premature every time it has been uttered during the last half-dozen years---or has a new generalship of economic life in America found a way to make prosperity continuous? And after all what is so unthinkable about continuous prosperity?"
: ---From the *Wall Street Journal* 2 October 1929, p. 19.
Who will insure this 'continuous prosperity'?
I suppose, as Stoller suggest we could chain all the
capitalists to the milling lathes after we steal
their net worth. Do you suppose that would do it?
Nah. They'd just get wind of it and move to Mexico
or Luxembourg with their capital intact. But I feel
you will see a socialist Amurika to resemble the FSU.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
--Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
None.
