The End of Freedom: The Ultimate Cost of the Great Depression

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Two quick things. The South never would have been competative at all. Period. All the ground Hoover had gained in 1928 would have been wiped out by the Depression.


Second. The Depression did not start on October 29, 1929. The Stock market crash was more then likely a sympton of an existing economic condition. But there is a debate among historians and economists as to whether the Depression was caused by the Crash or whether the Crash was caused by the Depression. One thing for sure is that 1929 was much like 2008 and the contraction likely started as early as the spring of 1929. Stocks had been volatile all summer much like the volatility that existed from Jan 2008 to Sept 2008. And it was the lackluster performance of GE's shares over the preceeding days with the first signs of trouble occurring on the 25th that triggered the crash on the 29th. Following the crash though, a Depression need not to have occured, especially if the Fed had stepped in to stablise the the system in particular the then uninusered bank deposits by increasing liquidity, something which the Fed had been pulling out of the market to the tune of 40% of the Currency in circulation leading up late 1929. Though I have recently read that the Fed was at the time restricted heavily by legislative mandated limits on the amount of Paper money that could be in circulation in relation to the gold reserves in connection with maintaing the gold standard. Whatever the case with so little money in the banks and the crash in consumer and investor confidence caused partly by the Crash, set off the run on the banks, which in turn set off the Depression as we have come to know it. Even still it wasn't till late 1930 to early 1931 that the Depression actually became a political issue.

Sorry for the nitpicking, just had to mention that. OTher then that it looks like a great TL.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You need to make the South much darker red. South Carolina would have been over 90% and so would Mississippi. AL, GA, LA and FL in the 80's and TX, TN, OK, ARK, NC in the 70% VA would be borderline between 60's and 70's.