Andrew Ross Sorkin, author and financial journalist, discusses the historic shift in American credit culture leading up to the 1929 financial crisis.
Opinion
Sorkin: Modern financial leverage differs fundamentally from 1929 levels
“I don't think it is One to one. I think there's a lot of leverage in the system today, but it's a different kind of leverage.”
Assertion Partly supported
Sorkin: Glass-Steagall was driven by Chase lobbying against JP Morgan
“It almost has nothing to do. I don't want to say it has nothing to do with breaking the banks apart for like political reasons, but it actually has to do with business reasons, meaning there was like some major bank money and lobbying going on behind the scene…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sorkin: Current leverage levels remain below 1929 margin debt and 2008 subprime crisis
“Now, I don't think that any of that is as leveraged as what we were talking about, this like 10 to one situation in 1929, or maybe, or even like the subprime situation in 2008.”
Assertion Supported
Sorkin: Roosevelt won 1932 election over Prohibition, not the economy
“When you go back and look at why Roosevelt won, it wasn't actually on the economy. If you go and look at the polls, it was over prohibition, crazily enough”
Insight
Sorkin: Post-WWII US union success depended on global industrial monopoly
“The reason why unions even worked, I would argue, for, in large part, was because there was this period of time where we were the only players in town, so we could charge monopoly rents for a lot of things, and people could buy a house with a white fence and h…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Sorkin: US tariffs will yield higher costs and inferior cars in 10 years
“Having said that, if we do this, which we are, We will probably spend more to buy less technologically capable cars 10 years from now than the next time we all, you know, if you go on vacation to Europe or Asia and get in the back of one of these other cars.”