The Latest Breaking News from the Great Depression

Decades ago, when the late Harry Reid was relatively new to the upper chamber, a book arrived at our offices courtesy of the Democratic senator. It was “The Farm Fiasco” by libertarian author James Bovard, a piercing work that critically examined the labyrinth of subsidies, handouts, pork and market distortions…

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, 2023, came as a shock to most Americans. Even people like myself, a scholar of the U.S. banking system who has worked at the Federal Reserve, didn’t expect SVB’s collapse.

Big banks are attracting more deposits–and putting money back into failing banks. A similar system existed in the run-up to the Great Depression.

Why deposit insurance matters: Without it, America's press secretary had to put his money under a mattress in the 1930s.

It was a scene straight out of the Great Depression: a major California bank locking its doors and pulling down the shades as a horde of panicky depositors demanded their money.

Fears of an economic downturn are once again on the rise, but what is a recession, exactly? We tackle this and other questions here.