The Great Depression’s ‘Green Shoots’

Sightings of  ”green shoots” of recovery were as common during the Great Depression as they are now — and just as pathetic.  Benjamin Roth recorded the economic roller coaster ride for posterity in a diary that was the subject of a New York Times article published over the weekend. “How it was all over by 1930 — but it wasn’t. How everyone was giddy from all the government stimulus in 1935 and 1936 — and the sudden and dramatic reversal in 1937 and 1938. It resonates, especially at a time when all the mainstream economists focus so intently over the latest tick in the regional manufacturing indices or jobless claims or inventory-sales ratios. You have to go beyond the confines of Wall Street to see what is really going on beyond the trees — this was not a recession brought on by excessive inventories, or by inflationary pressures for that matter.”  Click here  to access this must-read article.