Keep pulling the thread on Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The US unemployment rate reached 25% in 1932, and approximately 9,000 banks had failed by 1933.
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 forced the separation of commercial and investment banking, leading J.P. Morgan to spin off its investment banking unit, which became Morgan Stanley in 1935.
Andrew Ross Sorkin asserts that parts of the Glass-Steagall Act were influenced by the Rockefeller family, owners of Chase Bank, with the strategic intent of disadvantaging their competitor, J.P. Morgan.
Andrew Ross Sorkin claims that John Raskob conducted a two-year secret campaign, which included paying journalists, to damage the public reputation of President Herbert Hoover.
Tyler Cowen states that formal, regulated banks now account for only about 20% of total lending in the US economy, with the other 80% coming from other sources like the private credit market.
An investment made at the peak of the US stock market in 1929 would have generated a real return of approximately 6% by 1959.
In 1928, Merrill Lynch founder Charles Merrill advised investors to get out of the stock market.
The US stock market increased by approximately 90% between the beginning of 1928 and September 1929.
According to Tyler Cowen's research, total US debt as a percentage of GDP was approximately 165% in the late 1920s.
In 1919, John Raskob of General Motors pioneered consumer auto loans to increase car sales, a move that helped shift American attitudes towards taking on personal debt.
The failures of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns in 2008 would not have been prevented by the Glass-Steagall Act, as they were pure investment banks not covered by its provisions.
John Raskob was the developer behind the Empire State Building and, in November 1929, advocated for a five-day work week to stimulate the economy.