C, the productivity argument at some point becomes ludicrous, the productivity argument depends on a never ending stream of buyers with a never ending stream of cash and credit. How extended do we give people terms, buy now and don't pay your first payment till the next millenium =ggg=
former great productivity booms ended in busts when the buyers ran out of bucks.
henry ford developed a great productivity tool in the assembly line, but eventually everybody who could buy bought, they extended credit to the less credible, who were barely able to make the monthly nut, the buyers dried up, kaboom, is that much different than today?
I hear some analysts debunk the 1929 comparisons on the basis of stock buying in 1929 on 90% margin, i think the 'new era' has found ways to use margin in new and inventive ways that do not directly show up as stock market "margin" debt, did they have the complex derivatives markets in 1929?
Were stock market speculators able to control a 100,000 shares of a company, with an option instrument that cost less than a 500 shares?
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