‘Beyond the only game in town’, in America’s Bank , Roger Lowenstein points out that The Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1913 created a monetary  mechanism to mollify some aspects of future financial crisis. On the other hand, fiscal folly is a different matter. Previously, during the 19th century American Industrial Revolution manufacturing ingenuity and innovation flourished. For example, Peter Cooper’s 1830 ‘Tom Thumb’ engine contributed to the success of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. Similarly, Elijah McCoy’s 1872 Automatic Lubricating System’s effectiveness contributed to improved railroad efficiency. Moreover, in the 1880’s Richard Warren Sears was a railroad station manager who sold watches and other items at a profit through mail order catalogs. The 19th century success of American Railroad system and American manufacturing contributed to the growth and influence of America as a world power. World War One, onerous post war repayment systems and over-leveraging debt contributed to the era of the ‘Roaring 20’s. For instance, in America five-year balloon mortgages were prevalent during the 1920’s allowing some to purchase a house for a small initial down payment with a five year mortgage and a balloon payment in the fifth year. Anticipating the balloon payment of the fifth year after four years, many simply refinanced the mortgage with another five-year balloon mortgage; October 24, 1929 ‘Black Tuesday’, also known as The Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought this practice of refinancing to an end. The 1929-1941 Great Depression through legislation ushered in fairer markets improving the New York Stock Exchange reducing risk, speculation and volatility separating Commercial Banking from Insurance and Investment Banking through The Glass-Steagall Acts.

The consequences of World War II, plus worldwide the fiscal responsibility imposed by the Breton Woods Accords contributed to (The American Century 1945-1971?) The International Monetary System, ‘shared-prosperity’ in the middle of the 20th century eliminated the need for bank or currency bailouts seeing America bestride the world like a colossus. For instance, because of corporate contributions to the federal government, President Eisenhower was able to invest in building the Interstate Highway System coast-to-coast, surpassing the impact of the 19th century  American trans-continental railway system on the growth of the American economy. Example, in 1945, a home purchased for $30,000 with a 30 year mortgage would see the homeowner paying $90,000 to the originator of the mortgage, over the lifetime of the mortgage by 1975. However, according to www.payscale.com and www.latimes.com from 1950 to 1970 consultants through financial engineering manipulated manufacturing pay scale ratios of the average American worker to their C-Suite counterparts causing them to drastically diverge. 1950 one-to-Twenty pay scale ratios by 1970 became one-to-thirty, while subsequent real American median income stagnated.

‘It is easy to pick up the sword, it is hard to put it down’  The economic effects of prolonging the wars in Vietnam reverberate decades later. In the 1950’s America’s underwriting of France’s involvement in the Vietnam War, America’s 1960’s escalation, The Chennault Affair and expanding the war in 1970 strained the economic capacity  of the United States Government. August 15th, 1971 America allowed the dollar to float ushering in an era that moved from manufacturing to finance. Increasing risk speculation, volatility and turmoil in the markets placing your value at risk.