Factors in the Crash of '29 and the subsequent depression ("the Great Depression" – but I knew some people who were there who didn't think it was all that "great!") were wild-eyed speculation and over-investment:   buying stocks that had nothing much to back them, including such things as the recent Enron scam and other bits of hanky-panky, and a substantial measure of either over-production or under-consumption, depending on how you look at it. There were warehouses full of stuff that people weren't buying, partly because they couldn't afford it, but to a large degree because they didn't want it (current example, the large number of American-made autos that dealers can't sell). The result of slumping sales was that factories started laying people off and closing factories (as is currently happening in the U. S. auto industry), which exacerbated the problem because now there were increasing numbers of people who didn't have the money to buy the surplus goods. In the 1930s, the unemployment rate topped 25%.

There are a lot of different factors these days, but, the main factors that precipitated the 1930s depression are definitely at work today. Yeah, I could see something similar to that happening again.

Let's hope that there are some presidential candidates coming up for the next election who a) come equipped with a brain, and b) know a little history.

Don Firth