Capacity for Human Suffering

Then
"So long as business activity goes on," Albert Wiggin, chairman of Chase National Bank, told a Senate committee in 1931, "we are bound to have conditions of crisis once in so often." The committee chairman, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., then asked Wiggin if he thought "the capacity for human suffering is unlimited." "I think so," the banker replied. (McElvaine)

Now
From Democracy to Kleptocracy

Chamber of Commerce

Then
Irving Stone, the writer, . . . declar[ed] that Calvin Coolidge had transferred "the seat of power from the White House across Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Chamber of Commerce." (Ellis)

Now
U.S. Chamber of Commerce aims to spend $75M on midterm elections
US Chamber of Commerce under fire for campaign finance

Burden of Taxation

Then
Pierre S. du Pont, president of E. I. du Pont
de Nemours & Co., was-for understandable reasons-of the opinion that the rich should not bear the burden of taxation. Taxes, du Pont reasoned, ought to be paid by the working class, not the "productive" class (which he defined as large employers).(McElvaine)

Now
Negative Job Growth for 11 Years

Less Pollution

Then
Fewer pedestrians were to be seen on the streets since many men did not go to work and women shopped less frequently; for lack of warm clothing and fuel, many people stayed in bed most of the day during winter. The air became cleaner over industrial cities, for there was less smoke from factory chimneys. (Ellis)

Now
Will Economic Collapse Save Us From Climate Catastrophe?

Child Labor

Then
By 1929 the United States stood with two underdeveloped countries, China and India, as the only major nations allowing women and children to work at night.(McElvaine)

Now
GOP Set to Roll Back Child Labor Laws
GOP Set to Roll Back Child Labor Laws

Fundamentally Sound

Then
As the decline degenerated into the Crash, a wide array of leaders repeated phrases containing the words "fundamentally sound." (McElvaine)

Now
Disaster Not Averted

Community Oriented Values

Then
The economic collapse that started in 1929 obliged people who had begun to accept the new values of unlimited consumption and extreme individualism to take another look at those beliefs in comparison with the more traditional, community-oriented values that had existed in earlier times. (McElvaine)

Now
Rise of Commons Transforms Rust Belt City, in 2035

The 1930's

. . . in the words of Tom Wingfield, the narrator in The Glass Menagerie (1945): . . . that quaint period, the thirties, when the huge middle class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind. Their eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes, and so they were having their fingers pressed forcibly down on the fiery Braille alphabet of a dissolving economy.
(McElvaine)

The Good Old Days

Then and Now
From the perspective of 2009, it certainly appears that it was the general deregulation intended to restore, as much as possible, the good old days of the 1920's . . . and George W. Bush's Coolidge-Mellon-style tax cuts on the very rich that has caused enormous damage.
(McElvaine in introduction to 25th anniversary edition)

Austerity Hawks Want a Return to 1920's Capitalism

Drought

Then
Widespread droughts had afflicted the nation in the past-in 1881, 1894, 1901, 1911, 1916 and 1924-but none had been so severe as the drought that started in the year 1930. Now, over most of America, the sun stared like an evil eye at the earth, beating the soil into powder, scorching grass, drying up ponds and creeks, dooming huge trees. (Ellis)

Now
Drought Grips Parts of South, Midwest
La Nina Drought

Federal Reserve

Then
In 1927 the Federal Reserve did indeed encourage speculation by lowering discount rates from 4 to 3 1/2 percent. (Ellis)

Now
Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low
Quantitative easing fuels high in stocks

Radicals and Reactionaries

Then
Charles G. Ross of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
"Men who are not afraid to question the wisdom of unrestricted capitalism-which is practically what we have today-are the real conservators of our institutions. The real threat to them comes not from the handful of Communists in our midst but from the conservative extremists who are not willing to yield an inch. There is vastly more danger to the established order from the economic reactionaries in Congress than there is from the so-called radicals." (Ellis)

Now
Congress Must Raise Debt Limit
Playing Chicken with the Debt Ceiling

Gardening

Then
The sale of flower seeds shot up as Americans, tired of the ugliness of their lives, turned to the beauty of homegrown flowers. As might have been expected, there was widespread cultivation of vegetable gardens. Many did this on their own, while others received official encouragement. (Ellis)

Now
The White House Garden
American Garden Revolution
Recession Gardens

Looters

Then
John L. Lewis, President of the United Mineworkers:
"A horde of small-time leaders in industry and finance looted the purse of the population." (Ellis)

Now
Banksters Get Away With Fraud
Billionaires on Warpath to Pauperize Middle Class
JPMorgan Chief Gets A $19 Million Raise

What Caused the Crash?

Then
Greedy people wanted more than they needed. Foolish people thought they could get something for nothing. Impulsive people bought now in the hope of paying later. Income and wealth were distributed unfairly and dangerously. The rich regarded themselves as an all-knowing elite.The masses were not paid enough money to consume all the goods they produced. The economy was unsound. The corporate structure was sick. The banking system was weak. Foreign trade was out of balance. Business data were inadequate and often faulty.  (Ellis)

Now
US Income Disparity
Concentration of Wealth
Stagnant Wages
The Richest 1%

Estate Tax

Then
Meantime, Henry Ford was declaring: "Many families were not so badly off as they thought; they needed guidance in the management of their resources and opportunities." Ford needed no guidance. He managed to transfer 41 1/2 percent of stock in the Ford Motor Company to his son, Edsel, without paying a cent in inheritance or estate taxes. (Ellis)

Now
Big Business Dominating Tax Reform Talks
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%

More Blame

Then
from Dark Symphony by Melvin B. Tolson:

None in the Land can say
To us black men Today:
You dupe the poor with rags-to-riches tales,
And leave the workers empty dinner pails.
You stuff the ballot box, and honest men
Are muzzled by your demogogic din.
(from Bontemps)

Now
High CEO Salaries and Income Disparity
When Democracy Weakens

Park Bench

Then
Park Bench by Langston Hughes

I live on a park bench.
You, Park Avenue.
Hell of a distance
Between us two.

I beg a dime for dinner-
You got a butler and maid.
But I'm wakin' up!
Say, ain't you afraid

That I might, just maybe,
In a year or two,
Move on over
To Park Avenue?
(from Kramer)

Now
Power Concedes Nothing Without Demand

Hungry Child

Then
God to Hungry Child by Langston Hughes

Hungry child,
I didn't make this world for you.
You didn't buy any stock in my railroad.
You didn't invest in my corporation.
Where are your shares in Standard Oil?
I made the world for the rich
And the will-be-rich
And the have-always-been-rich.
Not for you,
Hungry child.
(from Kramer)

Now
US Poverty Levels Equal to the 1930s
Good for Business, Bad for People
Michigan's GOP Gov. Hikes Taxes for Working Poor

Child Labor

Then
Child Labor by Charlotte P. Gilman

No fledgling feeds the father bird!
  No chicken feeds the hen!
No kitten mouses for the cat-
  This glory is for men:

We are the Wisest, Strongest Race-
  Loud may our praise be sung!
The only animal alive
  That lives upon its young?
(from Kramer)

Now
Senator Calls Child Labor Law Unconstitutional
Legislators Looking to Loosen Child Labor Laws

Liquidate Labor

Then
Not again, however, would people suppose that the best policy would be-as [Treasury] Secretary [Andrew W.] Mellon so infelicitously phrased it-to "liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate." Our determination to deal firmly and adequately with a serious depression is still to be tested. But there is still a considerable difference between a failure to do enough that is right and a determination to do much that is wrong. (Galbraith)

Now
Why Budget Cuts Don't Bring Prosperity
How To Ruin a Perfectly Good Country
The Republican Strategy
Billionaire Brothers' Money Plays Role in Wisconsin Dispute

Leisure Class

Then
J. P. Morgan himself flatly told a Senate committee: "If you destroy the leisure class you destroy civilization."
(Ellis)

Now
Who Screwed the Middle Class?
Broken Unions, Broken Nation
Make Wall Street Pay
The Glass of Indignation

Stagnant Wages

Then
Senator James Couzens of Michigan:
"Notwithstanding the general assumption that wages were high, all available statistics show that during the years preceding the depression the increase in productivity per man was greater than the increase in wages. In other words, although the worker got more money, he produced still more goods. Somebody got the difference, and we all know who it was." (Ellis)

Now
Widening Gap Between Productivity and Wages
Low-Paying Jobs

Unemployed Don't Want to Work

Then
A Pennsylvania commission studied 31,159 workless men and then reported that the typical unemployed man was thirty-six years old, native born, physically fit and with a good previous work record. This finding contradicted Henry Ford's belief that the unemployed did not want to work. (Ellis)

Now
Unemployed Should "Get Off Their Backsides"

Saving Capitalism

Then
Robert La Follette Jr.:
We have reached the point where we must ascertain whether those who give lip service to our present system are willing to pay the price to save it. We must ascertain whether those who have the biggest stake in saving this system are willing to contribute to the government through graduated income and estate taxes a sufficient revenue to make it possible to carry on these collective expenditures until the war against the Depression is won.
(The Progressive, February 17, 1934)

Now
Congress Passes $858 Billion Tax-Cut Extension
Corporate Tax Revenues Nearing Historic Lows
Pawlenty: Bank of America Taxes too High

Farmers and Laborers

Then
The Minnesota Farmer-Laborer party rose in the early 1920's out of a popular tradition of radical politics in the state. It added urban laborers to the farmers on whom such earlier groups as the Populists and the Non-Partisan League had depended. (McElvaine)

Now
Farmers to Join Workers' Protests
Wisconsin Farmers To Join Protests
Wisconsin protests-now with farmers (and tractors)
Minnesota Union Members Rally

Teachers

Then
Elsa Ponselle:
A group got together and organized us. Everybody was heart and soul in the unions those days. Somebody said, "Why not a teachers' union?" And why not?
I'm really surprised at how many teachers joined the movement, especially the older ones. They marched. It gave the establishment a turn. (Terkel)

Now
Idaho Teachers Protest
Wisconsin Teachers Protest
Rhode Island Teachers Protest

Speculation in Stocks/Commodities

Then
It was not the speculators who were reviled in that fantastic time, but those who dared to criticize speculation. The Wall Street Journal reacted to one criticism in September 1929 by asking: "Why is it that any ignoramus can talk about Wall Street?"
(McElvaine)

Stock speculation provided a legal spirit of intoxication in a time when intoxicating spirits were prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment. By the fall of 1929, those who were guiding the market were driving under the influence. A terrible crash, to be followed by unpleasant sobering experiences and an awful hangover were the likely results. (McElvaine)

Now
"Extraordinary Speculative Activity"
Will Federal Regulators Crack Down on Oil Speculation?
The Danger of Speculation
Increase Gas Prices From Speculation

Balancing Budget

Then
Only nonbelievers dared to point out that the business of business is a profit. Only the unwashed were impudent enough to declare that budget balancing and bookkeeping, however honest, are not necessarily equated with the welfare of the people. (Ellis)

Now
Why Budget Cuts Don't Bring Prosperity
GOP Budget Cuts Would Kill 700,000 Jobs
Republicans Draw Economists' Concern

Still More Blame

Then
from Dark Symphony by Melvin B. Tolson:

None in the Land can say
To us black men Today:
You smash stock markets with your coined blitzkriegs
And make a hundred million guinea pigs.
You counterfeit our Christianity,
And bring contempt upon Democracy.
(from Bontemps)

Now
Conservatives Seek to Shift Blame
Loans to Minorities Did Not Cause Housing Crisis
Conservatives Can't Escape Blame

Business in Government

Then
[Warren G.] Harding, the most inept President in our history, echoed the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers by calling for "less government in business and more business in government."
(Ellis)

Now
Justices Give Special Treatment to Chamber
Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit
Billionaire Brothers' Money
API To Begin Direct Political Donations