It was not so much that the Great Depression was an economic shock, but that the Roaring Twenties had been an uncontrolled Boom. The years 1873-1894 or 1903 are now tagged “The Long Depression.” Prices, including farm produce and factory wages, were falling. But those were also “boom” years of new inventions, new discoveries.

Basically, capitalism encourages thrift. The wild consumption of the 1920s was the result of many factors including “progressivism.” Dr. H cites “Brave New World” (Ending is better than mending.) That book has characters Benito Hoover and Polly Trotsky. The US 10-cent dime of 1916 has a fasces on the reverse. Pareto and Marconi both supported Mussolini. Individualism and capitalism — and thrift — were thought to be dead. The brave new world of Ford was one of constant production … and consumption.

Mere production is not CREATION, just as zillions of inflationary dollars are not WEALTH.

For some of the many causes of the Great Depression, Murray Rothbard’s classic goes into excruciating detail on the policies of the Federal Reserve Board that encourged lending (and production) over savings and creation.