In order to create the Great Depression, the United States did two things, although not on purpose. First, during the boom times of the 1920s, it enacted vast deregulation of the financial sector, so that when the boom times went bust, the market crashed very badly. Then it enacted the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act which greatly raised import duties on goods from abroad.
The combination of an unchecked market crash and then the lack of ability to offset economic decline through global trade was disastrous. In the next few years the U.S. economy spiraled downward, and millions of people suffered greatly.
This time it looks like we are going to do it in the reverse order. If I correctly understand the rhetoric of the incoming administration, our new commander in chief will first enact a new version of Smoot-Hawley, blocking free global trade through artificially high import tariffs.
Then, with the kind advice of his friend Mr. Musk, he is going to help our nation’s hard working billionaires by enacting massive financial deregulation. Then we are all going to stand back and wait for something to break.
After the years of depression that this will bring on, and a lot of suffering by many Americans, we will need good leadership to help pick up the pieces. I just hope that this time we can find another FDR to clean up the mess.