[HN Gopher] 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History
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1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History
Author : mitchbob
Score : 24 points
Date : 2026-03-25 05:01 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nybooks.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nybooks.com)
| mitchbob wrote:
| > Andrew Ross Sorkin's history of the 1929 stock market crash
| reminds us that financial bubbles are inevitable--and that
| another one may be about to pop.
|
| https://archive.ph/GQeez
| simonsarris wrote:
| He's made a lot of predictions: Apple will acquire Disney
| (recent), Microsoft will acquire Yahoo (mid 2000s), we'd have a
| "hard landing" in 2023/2024. None of these have turned out
| true. It's especially hard to meaningfully evaluate claims of
| crashes.
| bitwank wrote:
| Even if there was a 29 style crash, assuming you can hold for
| 20 or so years, less than the length of most home mortgages,
| you would still come out ahead. Not that it wouldn't be
| painful for seniors and those who are middle age and not well
| diversified, but it's hard to not see a US crash as a buying
| opportunity for international capital.
| altmanaltman wrote:
| A 1929-style crash was accompanied by mass unemployment
| (~25%), meaning people were often forced to sell at the
| bottom precisely because they had no income. You can't
| "hold" if you're selling assets to eat. Also just because
| it recovered in the past doesn't mean it'll follow the same
| trajectory in the future.
| bombcar wrote:
| _Because_ we know of the '29 crash, the next one will
| always be different. Arguably the GFC was way worse, but
| way different.
| MyHonestOpinon wrote:
| right. And because we know of the crashes of 2022, 2008,
| 2001, etc. the market is showing a lot more resiliency.
| Which is good, but it will take longer to have a
| correction. Which may be bad by itself.
| Spooky23 wrote:
| Stabilizing from those crashes were all about the
| injecting liquidity and faith and credit in the US
| Treasury. Hoover didn't handle the events subsequent to
| 1929 well, but more out of ignorance than malice.
|
| In 2026, the POTUS, his family and friends are looting
| the treasury with brazen acts of fraud. The government is
| buying losing futures contracts to manipulate oil and
| other markets, and "mysterious people" are buying
| securities before scheduled, secret events to profit from
| it.
|
| The US assassinated the leaders of a hostile power after
| they essentially gave in to our demands.
|
| We eliminated the governments experts in a variety of
| strategic topics including oil, and installed toadies to
| run the fiscal service that disburses government funds.
|
| People are working on undermining the FDIC and
| decapitating social security.
|
| So a crash now is really disturbing. Nobody can have the
| level of confidence in the faith and credit of the United
| States as we did in 2008. The people who understand the
| complex issues have been purged by the government, and
| the rest of the leadership is complicit in criminality
| and is counting on loyalty to secure pardons for later.
| So you should be anxious.
| abraxas wrote:
| Most people who have significant savings in the stock
| market don't have the lifespan to ride out a 25 year
| recovery cycle. And those young enough to have the time
| usually don't have much in savings yet.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I guess it depends what you call "significant". I am 40
| and have over 200k in my 401k, which I think is
| significant. And I could most likely expect to live 25
| more years. If there's a crash tomorrow, my money
| wouldn't grow the way I am hoping it will over that time,
| but I should come out ok considering that I will be
| getting discount stocks while the market recovers.
| boelboel wrote:
| A 29 style crash would be accompanied by a 29 crash in
| other countries. Besides most countries (besides Argentine)
| suffered, some more some less. The US market wouldn't
| necessarily be a bigger bargain than others.
| Spooky23 wrote:
| That's a phenomenally unhelpful take.
| MyHonestOpinon wrote:
| Well, if I remember correctly Microsoft was very close to
| acquire Yahoo.
|
| So it means it made sense to do it. Even if you correctly
| predict the economic, political currents, sometimes it is up
| to the actions of individuals that are very hard to predict.
| tartoran wrote:
| We may see it again soon
| jmclnx wrote:
| I hope not, my parents were teenagers at the time, my fathers
| life was terrible back then, he had to join the CCC to survive
| and to help out his family.
|
| He had told me working with the CCC was not a bed of roses and
| he saw many terrible accidents to some of the workers. But he
| was glad it existed.
|
| Also, back then, I believe people were on average stronger and
| more resilient people alive today. Having such a crash will be
| far worse for society then 1929.
| suzzer99 wrote:
| Yes, nothing in recent history gives me any faith that we'll
| all pull together in the face of economic hardship - as
| opposed to letting charlatan politicians put all the blame on
| already marginalized scapegoats.
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| You sound like an old curmudgeon. Give me my avocado toast
| and exotic coffee carefully prepared in a French press and I
| can supervise other people clearing trails all day long (via
| Zoom--we're never so desperate as to need unnecessary sun
| exposure). Of course, I need my rebalancing hours of yoga in
| the morning and afternoon and personal time to ensure work-
| life balance.
| vjvjvjvjghv wrote:
| " I believe people were on average stronger and more
| resilient people alive today"
|
| People step up very quickly once they have to face a
| difficult situation. A while ago I talked to Ukrainian about
| their war. He said some years ago he couldn't have imagined
| living in a war zone but once it gets started you get used
| very quickly to drones flying over you, buildings in your
| town bring blown up, losing power for days, hiding in the
| basement. It very quickly becomes normality.
| MyHonestOpinon wrote:
| Today I learned about the Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCC)
| rvz wrote:
| There you go, that is the clue.
|
| This is why I have always said every year to not have any "new
| years resolutions" and instead prepare for 2030. [0]
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42563239
| paulpauper wrote:
| People say this every year
| softwaredoug wrote:
| "The Great Depression: A Diary" is a great day by day first
| person account of someone living through the depression. It's a
| great reminder how we don't have a monopoly on insane politics
|
| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6601224-the-great-depres...
| hydrogen7800 wrote:
| I read this more than 10 years ago, so I don't remember a lot,
| but I do appreciate it for being the only account of the crash
| that doesn't have historical hindsight. It was interesting to
| hear someone trying to make sense of things on a near daily
| basis during the fog of uncertainty. It makes me want to find
| other such accounts of historical events without the
| inevitable-seeming cause and effect sequence of events you
| normally read about history.
| iainctduncan wrote:
| ... "so far."
| OrangePilled wrote:
| I saw this book at a local library and I set it back down. [0]
|
| > Beyond the intrinsic difficulty of revivifying the top-hatted
| dead, Sorkin's rendition is limited by his desire to frame 1929
| as a story about people. His focus on individuals comes at the
| expense of analysis--particularly of the deeper economic forces
| that made the crash likely, if not inevitable. _Sorkin is more
| interested in how the crisis felt than why it happened_. He has
| little to say about why the government failed to take any
| meaningful steps to prevent it--or why, unlike in 2008, its
| responses failed so spectacularly.
|
| Emphasis added.
|
| The review here seems intent on filling in the gaps it finds the
| author to have left himself.
|
| This one reads more critically:
|
| "1929: Sorkin Rounds Up the Usual Suspects"
|
| > [...] Sorkin stages morality play rather than history. He also
| helps set policymakers up for the kind of grand theatrical action
| they are inclined to take anyhow whenever markets turn down. In
| other words, another 1933- or 2008-style rescue: flooding the
| market with liquidity, and stringing up wrongdoers and even the
| better Wall Streeters, such as the Mitchells whom Sorkin seeks to
| rehab. The same subpar results are likely to follow.
|
| [...]
|
| > Were 1929 a documentary produced by Michael Moore, its
| suggestions would not matter. We are accustomed to illogic in
| television. But 1929 presents itself as the researched book
| Sorkin wants it to be. It therefore claims the authority that
| such books can carry.
|
| > Sorkin quotes H. G. Wells, who called human history "a race
| between education and catastrophe." Indeed, indeed. But for
| education to beat catastrophe, that education must be a little
| more thorough.
|
| https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/1929-crash-sorkin
|
| [0]: I was returning _Stalin: The Glasnost Revelations_ by Walter
| Lacquer (1990). I found its research and ensuing narrative worth
| the effort.
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