“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the second one is.”

Great column explaining how the calamity we face today is eerily similar to the calamity faced by the American economy in the 1870's. Oddly enough, the failed solutions put forth back are eerily similar to what is being proposed by the political Right today:

"In the face of economic calamity and skyrocketing unemployment, the government did, well, nothing. No federal unemployment insurance eased families’ suffering and kept a floor on demand. No central bank existed to fight deflation. Large-scale government stimulus was a thing of the distant future.

As demand collapsed, businesses slashed payrolls and reduced wages, and a ruinous period of deflation began. By 1879, wholesale prices had declined 30 percent. The consequences were catastrophic for the nation’s many debtors and set off a vicious economic cycle. When economic growth eventually began, progress was slow, with periodic crises plaguing the economy through the end of the century."

The only thing missing today are the riots.