Show 11 E ST IY I 1 THE SLUMP ALONE the depression that began in 1930 affected the entire world with almost equal force recovery began in 1936 in the U S following an earlier recovery in other nations our own country then registered a substantial rise in business activity until the summer of 1937 since that time the united ted states has been blanketed by a new depression that has grown steadily even more severe and has brought us ominously close to the abysmal lows of 1932 but the rest of the world is in a happier business state U S government figures tell the story using as an average for the years 1923 25 german business stood at in the summer of 1937 in 1938 italian business at and 50 british business at and japan stood at in 1937 and is at the same level now so it goes down a long ilist of nations but where the united states in 1937 it has now dropped to 77 why is that well one answer is no country has so inflated its debt no country aside from the dictatorships has pursued so punitive a policy toward private business and in no country has the confidence conf dence of investors been so severely shaken by political persecution of business all of europe is in imminent fear of a major war yet european business goes on about as usual and here in america where we have the greatest natural and industrial resources of the world we are steadily going down hill we have government competition with business government policies of shiftlessness the utmost lack of economy and politicians coaching the public to distrust business that s something for us all to think about |