By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

Everybody knows the date of the start of the Great Depression, October 29^th 1929.  It was the day of the worst stock market crash in history.  Some people confuse the stock market crash on that fateful day as the Great Depression.  But the Depression was not a single day but an era that dragged on through the thirties and into the forties.  But the picture of what was about to happen to the lives of most Americans in the beginning was opaque at best.  At the time, the general public did not realize a major change was taking place.  After all, they were being told things like the economy is “fundamentally sound” by then President Hoover.  A few other quotes from the beginning of that dark era include:

December 5, 1929
“The Government’s business is in sound condition.”
– Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury

December 28, 1929
“Maintenance of a general high level of business in the United States during December was reviewed today by Robert P. Lamont, Secretary of Commerce, as an indication that American industry had reached a point where a break in New York stock prices does not necessarily mean a national depression.”
– Associated Press dispatch.

January 13, 1930
“Reports to the Department of Commerce indicate that business is in a satisfactory condition, Secretary Lamont said today.”
– News item.

May 1, 1930
“While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States – that is, prosperity.”
– President Hoover

June 29, 1930
“The worst is over without a doubt.”
– James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor.

June 9, 1931
“The depression has ended.”
– Dr. Julius Klein, Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

(quotes came from Illuminati News Sept. 2005)

Fast forward to today’s credit crisis.  I can remember vividly in February of 2007 how all the financial experts and administration officials being brought on to CNN (where I worked as an investigative correspondent) all said that the sub prime crisis (securitized debt or OTC derivatives) would be “contained.”   “Contained”?  America is now bailing out GSE’s Fannie and Freddie along with every major bank and brokerage house through the Feds “Lending and Auction” facilities.  There is no telling what the ultimate tab for all the bailouts will add up to, but trillions of dollars is far from a fantasy figure.  After all, this so called credit crisis is not a one day event like the take over of Bear Sterns or the stock market crash of 1929 but the beginning of a new era.   Many financial events and upheavals will serve as mile markers along the road that will undoubtedly shape this new era.  What the country will look like in the end will take years to develop.  I think where we are now is certainly not the end and not the beginning… but the end of the beginning of a new and dark era in world financial history.