Lessons from the Great Depression

[Riick]

For those of us who did not live through the Great Depression,
here's a link to a (LONG) journal article from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank "REVIEW".

Read it and get what I think is a probable look into the FUTURE,
with some version of the "Home Owners’ Loan Corporation"

http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/08/05/Wheelock.pdf

Below is the summary:

This article examines the federal response to mortgage distress during the Great Depression:

It documents features of the housing cycle of the 1920s and early 1930s, focusing on the growth of
mortgage debt and the subsequent sharp increase in mortgage defaults and foreclosures during the Depression.

It summarizes the major federal initiatives to reduce foreclosures and reform mortgage
market practices, focusing especially on the activities of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation
(HOLC), which acquired and refinanced one million delinquent mortgages between 1933 and 1936.

Because the conditions under which the HOLC operated were unusual, the author cautions against
drawing strong policy lessons from the HOLC’s activities.

Nonetheless, similarities between the Great Depression and the recent episode suggest that a review
of the historical experience can provide insights about alternative policies to relieve mortgage distress. (JEL E44, G21, G28, N12, N21)
.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, May/June 2008, 90(3, Part 1), pp. 133-48.

 

[Alison Swain]

The fact that they even felt the need to print such a study ought to scare the crap out of everybody!

 

[murray stroupe]

Re ; Best of Times & Worst of Times

They also started selling oil by the quart;
that's good ,dont use much 10/40 weight oil in a year. No doubt there is an opportunity there, some where.