How Big Government Made the Depression Worse, and Would Do Similar Damage Today
4th January 2018
The standard political attitude of ‘Do something, even if it’s wrong!’ has repercussions. Walter Williams is one of the most prominent free-market economists alive today, and he’s seen it all.
The Federal Reserve Board controls our money supply. Its governors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate and serve 14-year staggered terms.
They have the power to cripple an economy, as they did during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Their inept monetary policy threw the economy into the Great Depression, during which real output in the United States fell nearly 30 percent and the unemployment rate soared as high as nearly 25 percent.
The problem with central control of the money supply is that when they get it wrong, they get it wrong for everybody.