“Throw in terrible drought conditions, and other Gov’t spending and you get a Depression”
Unless “other government spending” is wider than I guess, you’ve gotta add about a hundred bullet points to understand why the depression lasted so long. Tariffs weren’t FDR’s idea, so I’ll give him that. But squarely on his shoulders lie the bank holidays, destruction of the gold standard, abrogation of contracts, massive work programs, wage and price controls, encroachment on other branches of government, and that vague but never to be underestimated phenomenon called “regime uncertainty,” to name but a few.
The similarities are striking and true. Once the economy started crashing, both turned to Gov't instead of the markets.
We were already in a Depression when FDR took control, and blamed said problems on the President before him. While he prolonged the Depression, he was not the origin.
And yes, we will continue to spiral down into our Depression today, because our leaders continue down that same path. One merely has to look to the past for answers, and unfortunately, War is on the horizon.