Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking more and more about institutional memory as it applies to the Great Depression. Specifically, the Great Depression was two or three generations ago for most of us. I wonder how much institutional memory (or lack thereof) plays a role in people’s positions on the current recession as well as Paulson – and now Tim Geithner’s – bailout packages.
What would people have said about all of this 40 years ago? What about 20 years ago?
My hypothesis is that we’ve lost some of that institutional memory vis a vis the Great Depression. There is more “let the banks fail” talk going on than I think we whould have seen in years past. I don’t think we’re headed for another depression, not by a long shot, but I also don’t think doing nothing is a viable strategy.
I think what’s equally staggering is that our generation / the boomer generation is the first one credulous enough to inflate two bubbles in a generation, nevermind in under a decade.