Anniversary of Great Crash of ‘29: Tune in for 15 Views on What We’ve Learned and What Lies Ahead
Wednesday, 10/28/2009 - 11:20 pm by Lynn Parramore | 5 Comments
80 years ago tomorrow, on October 29th, 1929, Wall Street saw the worst day in its history. The shock of “Black Tuesday” came to an end, but the misery of the Great Depression was just beginning.
We’ve asked America’s leading progressive thinkers — lawyers, economists, historians, civil rights leaders, authors, financiers and public figures – to talk about what the past can teach us and what our focus for the future should be.
Posts will be starting at 10am and continue through out the day. Join us! Perspectives will include: Elizabeth Warren, Rob Johnson, Bill Black, Bo Cutter, Marshall Auerback, Bruce Judson, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Mario Seccarreccia, David Woolner, , Barbara Arnwine, Jeff Madrick, Heather Gerken, Tom Ferguson, Eliot Spitzer, and Henry C.K. Liu.
Eliot Spitzer is a progressive thinker?
He is a hypocrite and a pompous buffoon.
Why would you give him a platform?
And I write that with all due respect.
Posted by John Jansen | October 28th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for reading — I enjoy your blogging. You’ve asked a question, and while I disapprove of personal comments, I’ll answer it. Eliot Spitzer has written for ND20 about the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and has a valuable understanding of how the process of investigation should work. He is a controversial figure, to be sure, and there is bound to be opposition to including his views on this blog–or any other. However, he is an effective writer and a clear thinker, in my opinion. Whether or not you consider his views progressive could be the subject of an interesting, substantive discussion.
My hope would be, however, that the criticism would focus on the substance of what he has to say, rather than focusing on personality, etc.
Lynn Parramore
Posted by FERI | October 28th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Awesome, it’ll make listening to Beck and Limbaugh more tolerable if I can focus my attention elsewhere. After all, it’s not like I need to pay attention much to grasp what they say.
Posted by Zach P | October 29th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I second Lynn’s comments on Governor Spitzer. He is a valuable addition to the cause. Whatever personal mistakes he made (for which he has already paid a significant price), his approach to the financial crisis has proved prescient and I suspect that if more politicians embraced his approach to financial regulation/oversight, we wouldn’t be in the current mess. Besides, John, if hypocrisy is a disqualification for public office, then we might as well shut down government right now. This is a country of second, third, indeed fourth opportunities.
Dick Cheney seems to have a great marriage. Do you think we should give him a platform on that basis?
Posted by Marshall Auerback | October 29th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
There have been quite a few similarities drawn between the first so called Great Depression and this soon to be Greater version, including the same easy money credit policies, asset bubbles, corruption and collusion–the cycle is quite familiar and there are many similarities.
What is going to be the big problem are the differences:
1) High Frequency Trading
2) Derivatives
3) A Wall Street captured government with no Pecora, no FDR, and no political will to advance the rule of law or the American Constitution
These are the three major DIFFERENCES which will propel this depression into a crisis of massive proportions, exponentially worse than the 1930’s Depression.
What lies are ahead, or what lies ahead, seems to be more of what lies behind us, but I am one of a very few bloggers who has advocated a pragmatic and workable solution.
Good luck!
Posted by Wil Martindale | October 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm