Tag: America’s Great Depression

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Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Appendix

The final section of Rothbard’s book is an extended discussion of Rothbard’s concepts of the Gross (or Net) Private Product, and an argument about how to calculate government depradations against the private product remaining in private hands.

The appendix contains a number of tables of data on economic statistics from 1929 through 1932, providing calculations of Private Product and Depradation as well.

One thing worth noting is that the Table VI in the Fifth Edition is an error. That table is supposed to contain government expenditure numbers but the receipt numbers from Table VII are reproduced there mistakenly.

The corrected content of Table VI is as follows:

FederalState & LocalTotal
19294913
19304.29.713.9
19315.59.715.2
19324.48.813.2
Corrected Table VI from page 345 of the fifth edition. All figures are in billions of dollars.

My reconstruction of Table VI comes from combining appropriate figures from Tables IV and V.

For my full show notes, go here.

This video is available on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

References

Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1949/compendia/hist_stats_1789-1945.html

NY Tax Foundation, The Tax Burden In Relation To National Income and Product
https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/tax-burden-relation-national-income-and-product/
(pdf direct link)
https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/ra4.pdf

Fabricant and Lipsey, The Trend of Government Activity in the United States Since 1900
https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/trend-government-activity-united-states-1900
(specific section cited by Rothbard)
https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/trend-government-activity-united-states-1900/appendix-d-data-government-purchases-payrolls-transfers-and-expenditures

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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12 is the wrap-up, about the last few months of Hoover’s term and Hoover’s unwarranted confidence in his actions. Along for the ride are some overall statistics from the start of the depression until he left office as well. There are also some ominous references to FDR’s incoming New Deal.

See my show notes here.

This video is available on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

References

Saloutos, Agricultural Discontent in the Middle West…
https://archive.org/details/agriculturaldisc00salorich

Fisher, 100 Percent Money
https://cdn.mises.org/100%20Percent%20Money_Fisher.pdf

Jones, Fifty Billion Dollars…
https://books.google.com/books/about/Fifty_Billion_Dollars.html?id=Ql8UAQAAMAAJ

https://archive.org/details/fiftybilliondoll0000jone

Clark, Central Banking Under the Federal Reserve System
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/central-banking-federal-reserve-system-314

Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare
https://archive.org/details/economicspublicw0000ande/page/n3/mode/2up

Willis, The Banking Situation
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/will93128-fm/pdf

Angly, Oh Yeah?
https://books.google.com/books/about/Oh_Yeah.html?id=rTWMAAAACAAJ

Kent Cooper, Kent Cooper and the Associated Press
https://archive.org/details/kentcooperassoci0000coop

Ayres, The Chief Cause of This and Other Depressions
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Chief_Cause_of_This_and_Other_Depres.html?id=DpVszwEACAAJ

Phillips, Banking and the Business Cycle
https://mises.org/library/book/banking-and-business-cycle

Davies, Depression and Recovery
https://archive.org/details/depressionrecove0000dale

https://books.google.com/books/about/Depression_and_Recovery.html?id=E8ovAAAAYAAJ

National Industrial Conference Board, Salary and Wage Policy in the Depression
https://archive.org/details/salarywagepolicy0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up

Levinson, Unionism, Wage Trends, and Income Distribution
https://books.google.com/books/about/Unionism_Wage_Trends_and_Income_Distribu.html?id=oamMAAAAIAAJ

Morris, The AFL in the 1920s: A Strategy of Defense
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2519356

Monthly Labor Review 35 (3)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-6130/september-1932-608220?page=25

Monthly Labor Review 35 (4)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-6130/october-1932-608221?page=8

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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter 11, part 2

Most of this part of the chapter is devoted to the efforts and agitation to reflate prices up to their pre-depression levels.

Fortunately, quite a few of these efforts fizzled out, but enough made it into official policy that the economy suffered another blow at the end of the year, after a small uptick.

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter 11, part 2″
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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Eleven, Part One

Chapter eleven of America’s Great Depression covers Hoover’s continued flailing as during 1932 as all of his policies make the depression worse.

In this part, we’re covering about half of the chapter, up through the section “Governmental Relief,” ending on page 301 in the Fifth Edition. (Next week we will spend most of our time on the two sections detailing the inflation in 1932.)

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Eleven, Part One”
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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Ten

Chapter ten covers the events of 1931. Basically, after massive state intervention didn’t fix the problem in 1929 or 1930, Hoover gets the great idea that more government intervention will fix the problem in 1931 and 1932… with disastrous results.

Up until 1930, Hoover had (at least) resisted the swan song of massive government control over the economy and huge federal relief programs. During 1930, that resistance waned and set the stage for the rest of the depression.

Alternative places to watch the video are on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

Get my full notes here.

References

(FYI, Rothbard cites a bunch of defunct journals and magazines in this chapter that are practically impossible to find outside of university library archives these days, but I did my best.)

Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare
https://archive.org/details/economicspublicw0000ande/page/n3/mode/2up

Clark, Central Banking under the Federal Reserve System…
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/central-banking-federal-reserve-system-314

Aldrich, The Causes of the Present Depression and Possible Remedies
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Causes_of_the_Present_Depression_and.html?id=iijIAAAAMAAJ

Dorfman, The Economic Mind in American Civilization…
https://mises.org/library/book/economic-mind-american-civilization-1606-1865-volume-one

Bernstein, The Lean Years…
https://archive.org/details/leanyearshistory0000bern_f7p8/page/n5/mode/2up

Warren, Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
https://archive.org/details/herberthoovergre0000warr_f2d0

Hayes, Activities of the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment
https://books.google.com/books/about/Activities_of_the_President_s_emergency.html?id=7QHJAAAAMAAJ

Congressional Record 75, including January 11, 1932
https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_january-04-19-1932_75/page/1654/mode/2up

Monthly Labor Review 32 (1931), including p. 834
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-6130/april-1931-608201?page=62

Wolman, Wages in Relation to Economic Recovery
https://books.google.com/books/about/Wages_in_Relation_to_Economic_Recovery.html?id=Vh1QAQAAMAAJ

Angly, Oh Yeah?
https://books.google.com/books/about/Oh_Yeah.html?id=rTWMAAAACAAJ

Salary and Wage Policy in the Depression
https://archive.org/details/salarywagepolicy0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up

Harrod, The Life of John Maynard Keynes
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462199

(I had no luck finding any electronic resource for the very old Barron’s issues referenced in footnote 17 on page 270)

Putnam, Is Wage Maintenance a Fallacy, in Journal of the American Bankers’ Association
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086750646&q1=putnam&start=1

Divine, American Immigration Policy
https://archive.org/details/americanimmigrat0000divi/page/n7/mode/2up

Abbott, Public Assistance
https://archive.org/details/publicassistance0001edit/page/n3/mode/2up

Schlesinger, The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919-1933
https://archive.org/details/ageofrooseveltcr0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up

Fusfeld, The Economic Thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Economic_Thought_of_Franklin_D_Roose.html?id=tRZUQwAACAAJ

Monthly Labor Review 33 (1931) containing p. 1341-1342
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-6130/june-1931-608203?page=10

Wendt, The Role of the Federal Government in Housing
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/Federal-Government-in-Housing.pdf

Nash, Herbert Hoover and the Origins of the RFC
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1892269

Monthly Labor Review 33 (1931), containing pages 1049-1057
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-6130/november-1930-608195?page=9

Frederick, Readings in Economic Planning
https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/228876
alternate link:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Readings_in_Economic_Planning/Xo_XAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=frederick%20%22readings%20in%20economic%20planning%22

Loth, Swope of G.E.
https://archive.org/details/swopeofgestoryof00loth/page/n5/mode/2up

Donham, Business Adrift
https://archive.org/details/businessadrift0000wall

Coit, Mr. Baruch
https://archive.org/details/mrbaruch00coit_0

The Magazine of Wall Street including December 14, 1929, unfortunately I could find no better link…
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/QKxLAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjU6OH-gd-IAxWCkO4BHXobAEIQre8FegQIAxA1

Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt
https://archive.org/details/democraticroosev00tugw

Stocking, Stabilization of the Oil Industry…
https://www.jstor.org/stable/46

Watkins, A Planned Economy Through Coordinated Control of Basic Industries
https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Planned_Economy_Through_Coordinated_Co/aOcyHAAACAAJ?hl=en

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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Nine

In chapter nine, Rothbard covers the ups and downs of 1930. This year is particularly interesting because it seemed as if the quick actions in the last quarter of 1929 had fixed the problems. In the first half of 1930, the general public thought things were looking good, considering how markets had bounced back and how a massive propaganda campaign was targeted at making them feel secure.

Of course, the additional inflationary spending of late 1929 and early 1930 only made the problem bigger while papering over it for a short time.

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Nine”
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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Eight

Rothbard covers the very start of the Depression in this chapter, basically the second half of 1929, with some historical digressions to set the stage.

The biggest takeaways from this chapter are that Hoover bullied industry into keeping wage rates up and construction expanding. He also went along with farm cartelization efforts over the previous fifteen years and tried to control many crop prices via the Federal Farm Board, which was catastrophically ineffective but tried over and over again.

Show notes here.

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Eight”
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Economics Political Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Seven

Chapter seven of the book attempts to explain Hoover’s interventionist policies and chart their progress in the period from 1920-1929.

Show notes here.

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Seven”
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Economics Philosophy Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Six

This chapter is short, but really needs a little supplement from Rothbard’s other writings to really “get it.”

Don’t worry, I got your back. In the video, I identify two more passages that help explain why the goal of “stable prices” is counterproductive. They’re from Man, Economy, and State and Making Economic Sense.

Continue reading “Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Six”
Categories
Economics Video Link

Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, Chapter Five

This chapter is about the “genetics” of the inflation, rather than the “anatomy,” to use Rothbard’s words. Basically, in this chapter, we’re interested in the cast of characters and how they were interacting.

Our primary characters are Benjamin Strong, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during most of the 1920s, and Montagu Norman, head of the Bank of England at the same time.

Rothbard describes their interactions and secret backroom deals to push more inflation and make the inevitable depression worse!

Read my show notes here.

This video is available on Odysee, BitChute, and YouTube.

References:

Harris, Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy
https://archive.org/details/twentyyearsoffed0000seym/page/n7/mode/2up

Lary, The United States in the World Economy: The International Transactions of the United States During the Interwar Period
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/united-states-world-economy-9204?page=3

Berglund, The Tariff Act of 1922
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1804045.pdf

Beckhart, The New York Money Market
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/beck93862/html?lang=en#contents

Smith, Facing the Facts; An Economic Diagnosis
https://archive.org/details/facingfactsecono0000smit

Putnam, What Shall We Do About Depressions?
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2349663

Aldrich, The Causes of the Present Depression and Possible Remedies
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Causes_of_the_Present_Depression_and.html?id=iijIAAAAMAAJ

Viner, Political Aspects of International Finance
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2349238.pdf

Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov

Viner, Political Aspects of International Finance II
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2349531.pdf

Warren, Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
https://archive.org/details/herberthoovergre0000warr_f2d0

Robbins, The Great Depression
https://mises.org/library/book/great-depression

Beveridge, Unemployment: A Problem of Industry
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=1qgrAQAAMAAJ&rdid=book-1qgrAQAAMAAJ&rdot=1

Benham, British Monetary Policy
https://books.google.com/books/about/British_Monetary_Policy.html?id=cJovAAAAYAAJ

Clark, Central Banking Under the Federal Reserve System…
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/central-banking-federal-reserve-system-314

Rist, Notice Biographique
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24689652

Chandler, Benjamin Strong, Central Banker
https://archive.org/details/benjaminstrongce0000chan

Clay, Lord Norman
https://archive.org/details/lordnorman0000clay

Crosby, Commercial and Financial Chronicle (May 9, 1925)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/commercial-financial-chronicle-1339/may-9-1925-518311

Palyi, Review: The Meaning of the Gold Standard
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2349926

Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System
https://mises.org/library/book/credit-policies-federal-reserve-system

Adams, The International Gold Standard Reinterpreted
https://archive.org/details/internationalgol0002brow/mode/2up

Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare
https://archive.org/details/economicspublicw0000ande/mode/2up

Warburg, The Federal Reserve System (Vol. 2)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/books/frsorigin1930/frsorigin_warburg_1930v2.pdf

Willis, The Failure of the Federal Reserve
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25110746

Reed, Federal Reserve Policy 1921-1930
https://archive.org/details/federalreservepo0000haro/page/n7/mode/2up

Abbott, The New York Bond Market, 1920-1930
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_New_York_Bond_Market_1920_1930.html?id=z0wUAQAAMAAJ

Snyder, Capitalism the Creator
https://mises.org/library/book/capitalism-creator

Hoyt, The Effect of Cyclical Fluctuations Upon Real Estate Finance (Speech)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/fdic/speeches/hoyt_19470125.pdf

Hoyt, The Effect of Cyclical Fluctuations Upon Real Estate Finance
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2975516

Durant, Commercial and Financial Chronicle (April 20, 1929)
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/commercial-financial-chronicle-1339/april-20-1929-516890

Lawrence, Wall Street and Washington
https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/521500
https://books.google.com/books/about/Wall_street_and_Washington.html?id=93tEAAAAIAAJ

Irving, The Stock Market Crash–and After
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_stock_market_crash_and_after.html?id=mYREAAAAIAAJ

Beckhart, Federal Reserve Policy and the Money Market, 1923-1931
I could not find a good source, even paywalled, for this article. Best I could find was a citation, here:
https://www.econbiz.de/Record/federal-reserve-policy-and-the-money-market-1923-1931-beckhart-benjamin-haggott/10001892048

Willis & Chapman, The Economics of Inflation
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/will93390/html?lang=en

Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System
https://mises.org/library/book/credit-policies-federal-reserve-system

Phillips, Banking and the Business Cycle
https://mises.org/library/book/banking-and-business-cycle

Noyes, The Gold Inflation in the United States 1921-1929
https://www.jstor.org/stable/418