As markets lurch between relief rallies and sudden reversals, ten developments now unfolding across equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities suggest the global monetary order is quietly being rewritten heading into Q1 2026.
AS I POINTED OUT EARLIER IN THIS THREAD.....52 card p.u., R U DOING YOUR DUE DILIGENCE?
Examining the causes of the Great Depression raises multiple issues: what factor set off the first downturn in 1929; what structural weaknesses and specific events turned it into a major depression; how the downturn spread from country to country; and why the economic recovery was so prolonged.[6]
Many rural banks began to fail in October 1930 when farmers defaulted on loans. There was no federal deposit insurance during that time as bank failures were considered a normal part of economic life. Worried depositors started to withdraw savings, so the money multiplier worked in reverse. Banks were forced to liquidate assets (such as calling in loans rather than creating new loans).[7] This caused the money supply to shrink and the economy to contract (the Great Contraction), resulting in a significant decline in aggregate investment. The decreased money supply further aggravated price deflation, putting more pressure on already struggling businesses.
A $10 US gold certificate. The U.S. used the gold standard until 1934 and controlled nearly half of the global gold supply during the inter-war period.
The U.S. Government's commitment to the gold standard prevented it from engaging in expansionary monetary policy.[clarification needed] High interest rates needed to be maintained in order to attract international investors who bought foreign assets with gold. However, the high interest also inhibited domestic business borrowing.[citation needed] The U.S. interest rates were also affected by France's decision to raise their interest rates to attract gold to their vaults. In theory, the U.S. would have two potential responses to that: allow the exchange rate to adjust, or increase their own interest rates to maintain the gold standard. At the time, the U.S. was pegged to the gold standard. Therefore, Americans converted their dollars into francs to buy more French assets, the demand for the U.S. dollar fell, and the exchange rate increased. One of the only things the U.S. could do to get back into equilibrium was increase interest rates.[citation needed]
In the late 20th century, Winner of the Swedish Central Bank Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences economist Milton Friedman and his fellow monetarist Anna Schwartz argued that the Federal Reserve could have stemmed the severity of the Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the monetary system and ameliorating banking panics, resulting in a Great Contraction of the economy from 1929 until the New Deal began in 1933.[8] This view was endorsed by Fed Governor Ben Bernanke who in 2002 said in a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz:
Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.[9][8]
— Ben S. Bernanke
Stock market crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 is often cited as the beginning of the Great Depression. It began on October 24, 1929, and kept going down until March 1933. It was the longest and most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States.
THERE WAS NOT ONE SINGULAR FACTOR...MANY FACTORS CONVERGED TOGETHER AND THE RESULT WAS CATASTROPHIC....SO WHEN U SAY IT IS HYPERBOLE.....U R ASSUMING IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.....PERHAPS,PERHAPS NOT...BUT WHEN U LOOK AT THE POSTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL GURU'S SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS AND STATING...WE DON'T KNOW WTH IS HAPPENING....IT GIVES ROOM FOR PAUSE AND RECONSIDERATION...IF U R FORWARD THINKING..