Free to Choose Chapter 3: The Anatomy of Crisis
The Great Depression was not what you think it was. Most people believe it was the ultimate proof that capitalism is dangerous and unstable. That free markets, left alone, will eventually destroy themselves. Friedman says this story is almost exactly backwards. The Depression was not a failure of the free market. It was a failure of government – specifically, a small group of people at the Federal Reserve who had the power to prevent the disaster and chose not to use it.