fribytteren sendte dette med sin computer:
> er værre end en tur i ruchebanen.
>
>
http://epn.dk/industri/energi/article1445861.ece
>
> Hvis I tror, at det bare vil går stille og roligt i sig selv igen
> fremover, så kan I godt glemme alt om det, for politikerne er slet
> ikke forberedte på den fremtid der komme og overrumpler os, som en
> anden terrorrist.
>
> Politikerne har gennem hele det tidsforløb der er gået siden 2.
> Verdenskrig troet på den hellige og almindelige liberalkapitalistiske
> kirke (bankvæsenet).
>
> Nu har vi kun kristendommen, jødedommen, Islam, New age og ateismen
> samt alle andre suspekte religiøse retninger at ty til.
>
> Vi kan selvfølgelig også håbe på, at ET kommer og redder trådene ud
> for os, men vi skal nok ikke prise os lykkelige, dersom hans bror
> Alien kommer i stedet for.
>
> Nej, vi må nok se i øjnene, at det bliver de næste par generationer af
> mennesker, der skal redde stumperne af det ødelagte, for de af os der
> i dag står med magtens scepter i hånden, lader ikke til at kunne magte
> de konflikter der er og vil komme.
>
> Med venlig hilsen
> Lars Kristensen
Tid til en smule historie, hvor relevant den er må tiden vise...
From 'The Encyclopedia of The Great Depression'
by Macmillan Reference USA.
*BANKING PANICS (1930–1933)*
More than nine thousand banks failed in the United States between 1930 and
1933, equal to some 30 percent of the total number of banks in existence at the
end of 1929. This statistic clearly represents the highest concentration of
bank suspensions in the nation’s history. The data reveal at least four
separate intervals when there was a marked acceleration and deceleration in the
number of bank failures: November 1930 to January 1931, April to August 1931,
September and October 1931, and February and March 1933. Milton Friedman and
Anna Schwartz designated these four episodes as banking panics, only one of
which had causal macroeconomic significance. If the 3,400 banks that were not
licensed by the Secretary of the Treasury to reopen in March 1933 are excluded,
only two out of five bank suspensions occurred during banking panics. It is
well to bear in mind that 60 percent of bank closings between 1930 and 1932
were not panic induced and that the problem of understanding why so many banks
failed during the Great Depression goes beyond simply explaining what happened
during banking panics. For example, one of the causes of the nonpanic-induced
failures during the Great Depression may have been related in part to the over
expansion of small, rural banks in the twenties as well as to the distressed
state of American agriculture following World War I. These factors may have
operated during banking panics as well but would have by no means been confined
to panic episodes.
Unlike previous banking panics of the national banking era, the banking panics
of the Great Depression occurred during the same cyclical contraction from 1929
to 1933, each compounding the effects generated in the previous panic.
DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BANKING PANICS
A banking panic may be defined as a class of financial shocks whose origin can
be found in any sudden and unanticipated revision of expectations of deposit
loss and during which there is an attempt, usually unsuccessful, to convert
checkable deposits into currency. There are two principal characteristics of
banking panics: an increased number of bank runs and bank suspensions and
currency hoarding as measured by the amount of Federal Reserve notes in
circulation seasonally adjusted. Table 1 shows the number of bank suspensions,
amount of hoarding, and panic severity in each of the panics of the Great
Depression, 1933 excepted. Panic severity is measured by the number of bank
suspensions in each panic divided by the total number of banks in existence.
BANKING PANIC OF 1930
During the banking panic of 1930, over eight hundred banks closed their doors
between November 1930 and January 1931, and Federal Reserve notes in
circulation seasonally adjusted increased by $164 million, or 12 percent (see
table). The largest number of bank closings was concentrated in the St. Louis
Federal Reserve District with approximately two suspensions out of every five
banks. These closings were related to the failure of the largest regional
investment banking house in the South, Caldwell and Co. of Nashville,
Tennessee. The firm controlled the largest chain of banks in the South with
assets in excess of $200 million and also the largest insurance group in the
region with assets of $240 million. The failure of Caldwell and Co. had
immediate repercussions in four states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and
North Carolina. The collapse of Caldwell’s financial empire raised expectations
of deposit loss throughout the surrounding region. The 1930 panic was region
specific, inasmuch as at least one-half of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts
had fewer than 10 percent of bank suspensions. Four Districts accounted for 80
percent of total bank suspensions and slightly over one-half of the deposits of
suspended banks. The consensus view in the early twenty-first century was that
the 1930 banking crisis was a region specific crisis without perceptible
national economic effects.
THE TWO BANKING PANICS OF 1931
No more than two months elapsed between the end of the first banking crisis in
January 1931 and the onset of the second in April. The number of bank
suspensions was lower (573), but the amount of hoarding doubled. One-third of
the bank suspensions were in the Chicago Federal Reserve District; there was a
mini panic in Chicago in June and a full scale panic in Toledo, Ohio, in
August. The Cleveland Federal Reserve District had two-thirds of the deposits
of suspended banks. Nevertheless, in six Districts there was little or no
change in currency hoarding. The onset of the third banking panic coincided
with Britain’s departure from the gold standard in September 1931. Bank
failures, deposits of failed banks, and hoarding rapidly accelerated after the
British announcement. The immediate response of the Federal Reserve was to
raise the discount rate in October 1931; this action was followed by an
increase in interest rates. The harmful effects of the increase may have been
exaggerated since increased bank suspensions and hoarding had preceded the
increase. Mini panics in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chicago with their
reverberating effects occurred between September 21 and October 9, before the
discount rate was increased. Sixty percent of the increase in hoarding occurred
before the rate increase. The discount rate increase played no causal role in
precipitating the panic. Nor did the Fed’s failure to offset the decline in the
money stock represent ineptitude. Knowledge of the role of the currency-deposit
ratio as a determinant of the money stock was simply unavailable. In sum, 60
percent of the 2,291 bank closings in 1931 occurred during the two separate
banking panics.
THE BANKING PANIC OF 1933
The 1933 panic was idiosyncratic. In no other financial panic was there such a
widespread use of the legal device of the “bank holiday,†whereby a state
official, usually the governor, closed all of the banks for a short time. In
March 1933 one of the first acts of Franklin Roosevelt, the incoming president,
was to announce a nationwide banking holiday, an event without precedent in
U.S. history. Prior to Roosevelt’s action many states had declared their own
bank holidays. Such action was the mechanism through which depositor confidence
was further eroded and was spread to contiguous states. Officials in the
individual states panicked. Uncoordinated state initiatives led to a nationwide
banking debacle. The use of statewide moratoria was not new. Five states had
declared banking holidays during the 1907 panic. What was new was its use by
the president.
The timing of the national banking holiday was dictated by two considerations
simultaneously. First, a banking system had virtually collapsed without any
prospects for recovery in the absence of national leadership. The outgoing
president, Herbert Hoover, and the Federal Reserve had abdicated their
responsibility for what was happening. Second, an external drain of gold
allegedly threatened gold convertibility of the dollar.
CAUSES OF BANKING PANICS
The importance of banking panics for understanding the Great Depression resides
in determining their causal significance. Did bank failures cause the decline
in income and interest rates or did the decline in income and interest rates
cause bank failures? To have exerted a causal role, panic-induced bank
suspensions would have had to be independent of interest rate and income
changes. Friedman and Schwartz assigned a causal role to bank suspensions in
order to explain why the money stock fell; an autonomous increase in the
currencydeposit ratio, a money stock determinant, provoked a rash of bank
suspensions that caused the money stock to contract, income to decline, and the
conversion of a mild recession into a major depression. James Boughton and
Elmus Wicker, in 1979 and 1984, showed that interest rates and income were, in
fact, important determinants of the money stock. Their finding that the
currency-deposit ratio was sensitive to interest rate and income changes is
consistent with Peter Temin’s view that causation went from income and interest
rates to the money stock and not vice versa. As of the early twenty-first
century, a consensus was slowly emerging that panic-induced bank suspensions
were not causally significant.
Why, people may ask, were there any banking panics at all? Had not the Federal
Reserve been established to eliminate banking panics? Yet the worst banking
panics in U.S. history occurred thereafter. How was that possible? Did the
fault lie in imperfect legislation creating the Fed or was Fed leadership
culpable? Friedman and Schwartz attributed panics to inept Fed leadership. But
they rejected a compelling alternative explanation that deserves serious
reconsideration. Structural weaknesses in the original Federal Reserve Act can
explain equally well, if not better, why the Fed failed to prevent the panics
of the Great Depression. There were at least three important structural
weaknesses in the original Federal Reserve Act: 1) membership was not
compulsory for state bank and trust companies, 2) paper eligible for discount
by member banks was too narrowly defined and restricted access to the Fed, and
3) power was so decentralized between the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the
Board in Washington that leadership was weak and ineffective. These combined
structural weaknesses contributed to the Fed’s poor performance.
EMERGENCY BANKING ACT OF 1933
The Emergency Banking Act of March 9, 1933, granted the government the
necessary powers to reopen the banks and to resolve the immediate banking
crisis. Only one-half of the nation’s banks with 90 percent of the total U.S.
banking resources were judged capable of doing business on March 15; these
banks were presumably safe, meaning that they were solvent. The other half
remained unlicensed. Forty-five percent of those were placed under the
direction of “conservators†whose function it was to reorganize the banks for
the purpose of eventually returning to solvency. The remaining 5 percent (about
1,000) would be closed permanently. The reopening of the banks on March 13
witnessed a return flow of currency into the banks for first time since the
banking panic of 1930. By April 12, some 12,817 banks had been licensed to open
with $31 billion of deposits.
*TIMELINE*
1893–1898: Panic of 1893, the worst economic collapse in American history prior
to 1929.
1913: Henry Ford introduces the moving assembly line in production of his
automobiles, pointing the way toward an economy of mass production that will
require the stimulation of mass consumption.
1914–1918: World War I severely disrupts the international economy, distorts
international trade, transforms the United States into the world’s leading
creditor nation, prompts overproduction in American agriculture, and leads to
the development of techniques of mass persuasion that will be used in
advertising in the 1920s.
1919: Versailles Peace Conference demands huge reparations from Germany.
1920–21: Severe postwar deflation and economic recession.
1923–24: Hyperinflation in Germany. 1925–26: Florida real estate bubble.
1928–29: Great Bull Market on Wall Street. Speculators push stock prices far
above their realistic values. November 6,
1928: Herbert Hoover is elected president of the United States.
October 24–29, 1929: Stock Market Crash, followed by continuing severe decline
through mid-November.
June 17, 1930: Hawley-Smoot Tariff is enacted, raising duties on products
imported into the United States.
May 1931: Austrian Kreditanstalt collapses, precipitating a financial crisis in
central Europe.
July 1931: Donatbank in Germany goes bankrupt, leading to closure of all German
banks.
February 2, 1932: Reconstruction Finance Corporation established to provide
loans to banks and other financial institutions.
March 23, 1932: Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits injunctions against strikes and
boycotts.
May–July 1932: “Bonus Army†of World War I veterans comes to Washington to
demand immediate payment of a bonus Congress had enacted in 1924. Troops
forcibly evict the group on July 28.
June 30, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins Democratic nomination for president.
July 2, 1932: Roosevelt accepts the Democratic nomination in a speech in which
he pledges himself to a “new deal†for the American people.
October 1932: Recording of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?†The song became an
anthem for Depression victims.
November 8, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president in a landslide
over Herbert Hoover.
January 30, 1933: Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany.
February–March 1933: Banking crisis in which runs on banks force bank failures
and several states proclaim “bank holidays,†closing the banks statewide.
Almost all banks in the nation are closed by March 4.
March 4, 1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as president, asks for powers
similar to those he would be given in a war.
March 9, 1933: Emergency Banking Act gives the government the power to reopen
banks once they are declared secure.
March 12, 1933: Roosevelt addresses the nation by radio in his first “fireside
chat.â€
March 31, 1933: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established, providing
reforestation and conservation work for unemployed young men.
April 19, 1933: United States officially abandons the gold standard.
May 12, 1933: Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) appropriates $500 million to
aid states in providing relief payments.
May 12, 1933: Agricultural Adjustment Act enacted with the purpose of raising
prices and farm income by cutting excess production.
May 18, 1933: Tennessee Valley Authority established to improve life in the
impoverished region through planning, the provision of hydroelectric power,
flood and erosion control, and other means.
May 27, 1933: Federal Securities Act requires full disclosures when new
securities are issued.
June 12–July 27, 1933: London Economic Conference fails to agree on
international approach to fighting the Depression.
June 13, 1933: Home Owners’ Loan Act provides for federal refinancing of
mortgages on homes.
June 16, 1933: National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) establishes the National
Recovery Administration (NRA) to set up codes of fair competition in industries
and establishes the Public Works Administration (PWA) to construct public
buildings, roads, etc.
June 16, 1933: Glass-Steagall Banking Act separates investment banking from
commercial banking and creates the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
to guarantee bank deposits.
June 16, 1933: Farm Credit Act provides for the reorganization of credit for
farmers.
September 30, 1933: Dr. Francis Townsend’s letter outlining his proposal for an
old-age pension system is published in the Long Beach Press- Telegram.
October 18, 1933: Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) set up to make loans to
farmers on their crops.
November 8, 1933: Civil Works Administration (CWA) established to provide work
relief for millions of the unemployed.
June 6, 1934: Securities Exchange Act establishes the Securities Exchange
Commission (SEC) to regulate the operation of the stock market.
June 18, 1934: Wheeler-Howard (Indian Reorganization) Act is passed, starting
the Indian New Deal.
June 19, 1934: National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) established.
June 28, 1934: National Housing Act creates the Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) to insure loans for home building.
July 1934: Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) formed.
July 16, 1934: San Francisco General Strike begins.
August 1934: American Liberty League formed to oppose the New Deal.
August 28, 1934: Upton Sinclair wins the Democratic nomination for governor of
California on his socialist “End Poverty in California†platform.
November 6, 1934: Congressional elections give Democrats an additional nine
seats in each house of Congress; Sinclair defeated in California.
April 8, 1935: Emergency Relief Appropriation Act provides $4.8 billion for
relief, most of which goes to the new Works Progress Administration (WPA).
May 1, 1935: Resettlement Administration (RA) set up to assist impoverished
families by resettling them on productive land.
May 11, 1935: Rural Electrification Administration (REA) established to provide
electricity to rural areas on the nation.
May 27, 1935: In the case of Schecter Poultry Corp. v. U.S., the Supreme Court
unanimously invalidates the National Recovery Administration (NRA).
June 19, 1935: Roosevelt sends “Wealth Tax†message to Congress calling for
changes to reverse the concentration of wealth and economic power.
July 5, 1935: National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) provides protections
for workers seeking to organize unions.
August 14, 1935: Social Security Act establishes a system of old-age pensions,
unemployment compensation, and aid to dependent children.
August 28, 1935: Public Utility Holding Company Act (Wheeler-Rayburn Act)
restricts the use of holding companies in the ownership of utilities.
November 9, 1935: Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO, later Congress of
Industrial Organizations) is formed to promote unionization of mass production
industries.
February 1936: John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory of Employment, Interest,
and Money is published.
June 27, 1936: In a speech accepting his renomination, Roosevelt attacks
“economic royalists.â€
1936: Spanish Civil War begins.
November 3, 1936: Roosevelt defeats Republican Alfred Landon by an
extraordinary margin, winning all but two states.
December 30, 1936: Sit-down strike against General Motors begins in Flint,
Michigan.
January 20, 1937: Roosevelt gives second inaugural address, in which he speaks
of “one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.â€
February 5, 1937: Roosevelt submits to Congress his plan to reorganize the
judiciary, beginning the fight over court-packing.
February 10, 1937: General Motors agrees to a contract with the United Auto
Workers (UAW), ending the sit-down strike.
March 2, 1937: U. S. Steel Corporation recognizes and signs an agreement with
the Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee (SWOC) without a strike.
May 30, 1937: Memorial Day Massacre of union members outside the Republic Steel
plant in South Chicago.
July 22, 1937: Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act establishes the Farm Security
Administration (FSA).
August 1937: “Roosevelt Recession†of 1937–38 begins.
September 1, 1937: National Housing Act (Wagner- Steagall Act) creates the U.S.
Housing Authority to assist in providing housing for lowincome people.
December 1937: Publication of report by La Follette Civil Liberties Committee
in the Senate details tactics used by anti-union employers.
February 16, 1938: Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 revived the AAA of 1933
in a form that avoided the problems that had led to the earlier act being
declared unconstitutional.
June 16, 1938: Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) is formed to
investigate concentration and monopoly in business.
June 25, 1938: Fair Labor Standards Act provides for a minimum wage and a
maximum number of working hours and outlaws child labor.
October 31, 1938: Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds touches off
a panic about Martians landing in New Jersey.
November 7, 1938: Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass†in which Nazi
thugs, encouraged by the government, looted and vandalized Jewish homes,
businesses and synagogues across Germany.
November 8, 1938: Congressional elections bring significant gains for
Republicans, but maintain large majorities in both houses.
1939: Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and John Ford’s Stagecoach
present moviegoers with pre-capitalist values.
April 3, 1939: Administrative Reorganization Act rearranged and reorganized the
units within the executive branch of government.
April 9, 1939: Marian Anderson gives free concert for seventy-five thousand at
the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution deny her
use of Constitution Hall.
August 2, 1939: The Hatch Act prohibits federal officials from participating in
political campaigns.
August 24, 1939: Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact opens the way for World War II.
September 1, 1939: German invasion of Poland starts World War II. 1940: Richard
Wright’s Native Son is published.
July 18, 1940: Franklin Roosevelt is nominated for a third term as president.
November 5, 1940: Roosevelt defeats Republican Wendell Willkie to win an
unprecedented third term as president.
1941: Military production in preparation for World War II brings the Great
Depression to an end.
Jan Rasmussen
--
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King