[aposiopetic]

Since you know that era well, it is reassuring to hear you say that.

[LS]

Thanks, but don't take my word for it. I think that is (ugh, that term) the "consensus" of most economists today, and certainly a couple I greatly respect, including the late Milton Friedman.

It's funny that many who disagree with Friedman that the Fed's unwillingness to bail out the Bank of United States caused the recession to turn into the Great Depression usually say it was another chain, Caldwell and Co. in TN, that caused the collapse. They don't seem to get the irony that either way, it was the Fed that screwed up by not doing its job.