1929
Does History Rhyme?
October 1929 is regarded as the start of the Great Depression. More specifically, the US and Canadian stock markets ended their huge run up and began their dramatic multi-year decline that fateful month. Andrew Ross Sorkin has recently released an historical book (1) of the key players and events surrounding this monumental time in North American financial history.
In promoting his book, Sorkin has appeared on many podcasts (2) (3) and always ends up discussing what was and can be learned from that crash and how it may be applied to our current situation. Let’s take a tour through the learnings and their applicable knowledge.
Then vs Now
Revolutionary changes were occurring in society like the advent of radio, the mainstreaming of automobiles, and public access to the stock market. Debt became a mainstream tool for the first time. The US was applying tariffs for protectionist reasons.
Governments were small and ran surpluses. Money was backed by gold. Financial, banking and stock market regulation barely existed. The stock market was essentially the wild, wild west of its time.
Income inequality was very high then. Buying into the stock market with leverage was the lottery ticket to get ahead in life.
Today
Income inequality is even higher today. The new lottery ticket is found in crypto and Mag 7 stocks. RCA then is the Nvidia of today. <see Name Notes>
Remarkable euphoria around technology that will change the world. AI and data centers today. Shocking high stock valuations are the result. And high valuations always lead to correction.
Concurrently, remarkable levels of debt are being leveraged to drive the technology investment. Private credit is where lots of today’s growing leverage is positioned, along with the corporations building the technology and the energy to power the data centers.
In Conclusion
Sorkin’s epilogue ends with:
“The enduring lesson is not that booms can be prevented or that busts can be fully averted. It is that we need to remember how easily we forget. The antidote to irrational exuberance is not regulation by itself, nor skepticism, but humility – the humility to know that no system is foolproof, no market fully rational, and no generation exempt. The greater the heights of our certainty, the longer and harder we fall.”
There is no certainty of a bust or timing for a bust. But, if history does rhyme, then it is signaling that stock market trouble is coming our way. Let’s Be Prepared and minimize the fall.
1. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History – And How it Shattered a Nation, Andrew Ross Sorkin, 2025
2. The New Yorker Interview, YouTube, November 2025
3. Principles by Ray Dalio, How Debt Drives Every Crash, YouTube, November 2025
Name Notes:
· Mag 7 stocks are Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla
· RCA is Radio Corporation of America, created to control American Radio in the 1920’s
· Nvidia is a leader in manufacturing graphics processing units