How does todays financial crisis compare with the beginning of the Great Depression and the 1930s?
— Landon Romano, Johannesburg Without doubt, you can pick a statistic here and a data point there, lump them together, and cook up a case that it’s 1929 all over again. But you shouldn’t. Yes, the current crisis is dire and will certainly worsen. In previous columns, we’ve predicted tough economic conditions for the next several quarters as the financial system’s deleveraging is followed by a consumer deleveraging. But for many reasons, we don’t see a second Great Depression looming. To paraphrase Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we believe the main thing to be pessimistic about today is pessimism itself. To repeat: We know that real pain lies ahead. But we believe that when the pain eases—and it will—the global economy will be stronger and sounder than ever. We just have to get there—and we will—provided we stop fixating on, well, the exact question you pose. Not to criticize you for asking! You’re not alone, and we appreciate the chance to counter some financial journalists and all-purpose
